Lightning: Dark Savior
by Native Avenger
Summary: Eighteen years have passed since Lightning: New Life and Isaac's son, Jack, has grown up. One day, Jack finds the same crystal that brought his father to the Dragon Realms, but all of his father's friends will soon learn that Jack is not all of what he seems to be. Learn how Jack became the silent man he is and how he will stop the forces of evil.
1. This is hell

**You readers wanted it, you got it. The sequel to Lighting: New Life is here! This first chapter is gonna have little to nothing to do with Spyro, but the rest of the chapters will, I assure you. I just say thanks to everyone who reads my stories; it really makes me happy when I see how many views I have.**

Chapter 1: This is Hell

There is a dark hallway with weak and flickering lights. Pipes and rust cover the low ceiling. The floor tiles are cracked from misuse and the walls are dusty. In the hallway is a man, no more than eighteen years of age.

The man is wearing black cargo pants, black steel toe boots, a black military jacket, black gloves, and a black bulletproof vest over his jacket. He is also wearing a black M12 gas mask with dark tinted lens so it was impossible to see his eyes. The eye lenses have been customized to look like angry eyes. Resting on his head is a black military helmet.

The man is carrying a Beretta ARX 160 assault rifle with a red dot sight, grenade launcher, and a flashlight taped to the barrel. He has a Ruger SR9 pistol strapped to his left side if needed as well. Lastly, he has a cold steel tomahawk strapped to his belt.

The man's breathing could easily be heard through the gas mask as he walked down the hallway. He took a left at the end of the hall and saw four other people waiting for him. They are dressed like him except they are wearing gray M3A1 gas mask and carrying AR-15 assault rifles.

"There you are… Jack Bedage was it?" one of the men asked.

The man now known as Jack, Isaac's son, nodded in confirmation.

"Good, let's get going already." another man, this time with a Californian accent, said to the group.

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves, yes?" a man with a Russian accent suggested.

"Name's Carl Erikson." the man with the California accent greeted.

"Bob Marley." the man with a Boston accent stated.

"Sarah Blake." a woman with a New York accent said.

"And I'm Filipp Morozov." the Russian man greeted warmly. Unlike the other's he's carrying an AK102.

"Can we go now? We need to get supplies for the colony." Sarah asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Carl agreed.

The five armed people walked into the industrial elevator to Jack's left. Filipp pulled the lever on it and the door closed. The elevator slowly moved upwards.

"You know, I've heard about you, Jack. They say you were the lone survivor of two missions… is that true?" Bob asked curiously.

Jack didn't answer; he just stared at Bob through his gas mask.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Filipp comforted while glaring at Bob.

"I heard that you're an Indian. That's pretty cool if you ask me." Sarah praised, but got no response from Jack.

The elevator stopped moving and the door opened.

"You are a man of silence, I respect that. I met many people like you and they were all very skilled fighters." Filipp also praised as they all exited the elevator and walked through the tunnel.

They approached a metal door. Bob and Carl shouldered their rifles and slowly pulled the door open. The intense light from outside blinded them all. Once they could see again, they stood there to look at the area outside.

There is a ruined city with destroyed buildings and debris everywhere. The ground is covered with rubble and snow, and it's snowing lightly. Screeches and howls can be heard in the distance.

"Sixteen years have passed and its still winter. You'd think the nukes would've made the area a dessert." Carl said uncomfortably.

"Let's go." Filipp said seriously as he led the group into the city.

Besides the small sounds in the distance, the city is quiet and empty. There is not a soul in sight.

"It's hard to believe that this place used to be Boston…" Sarah said quietly as they moved down the street.

"Be quiet! Are you trying to get us noticed?" Bob yelled in a whisper.

All of a sudden they heard growling up ahead. Three creatures jumped out of a nearby store and growled at the group. The creatures resemble pale and hairless dogs. They have split jaws with razor sharp teeth. Their eyes are pupiless and they don't have tails.

"Ferals!" Carl yelled as he and the others took aim.

The Ferals snarled and charged forward. They were stopped however by a wall of gunfire. The bullets ripped through the dog creatures without much trouble. Once they were all dead, they all looked at each other.

"We need to go, now. There are bound to be more of them." Filipp told them all.

As if on cue, more Ferals leapt out of the building and charged them. The humans started to shoot them, but more creatures kept coming. The group started to move back as they fired and reloaded. Jack fired his grenade launcher, but the killed monsters were quickly replaced.

The group heard screeches above them and looked up.

"Flyers too!?" Sarah yelled in shock.

"I fucking hate Flyers." Bob whimpered.

Flyers are one of the more disturbing creatures of the winter wasteland. They were once infants, but were so heavily eradiated that they formed a new species. They have pale pinkish skin with glowing yellow eyes. Their arms have been replaced by pink bat wings. They have long claws on their feet for grabbing small prey and slicing. Their mouths are very wide and form a sick smile with razor sharp teeth.

Surprisingly, they didn't attack the group; instead they started hunting the Ferals. They grabbed the dog creatures with their feet and flew away.

"Why are they killing them instead!? I don't get it!" Bob yelled as the group started to run away into an office building.

"Because Flyers hunt small prey. They only hunt humans when they have no other choice." Filipp explained as he and Jack barricaded the door.

Once they were confidant the barricade would hold, they rejoined the group.

The group decided to rest in the lobby. Sarah, Carl, and Bob are sitting on the floor. Filipp is sitting on the receptionist desk and Jack is leaning on the wall and checking his gun. Bob looked at Jack with suspicion.

"Do you even care what happens to us?" he asked accusingly.

Jack didn't answer; he didn't even look at the group or stopped checking his gun.

"Yo angry face, I'm talking to you!" Bob yelled.

Jack stopped checking his gun and slowly looked at Bob.

"Do you even care what happens to us?" he repeated.

Jack stood there in thought for awhile, but eventually shook his head, no.

"I knew it. I fucking knew it! Well if you're about to die, don't expect me to come save you!" Bob yelled angrily.

"That's enough, Robert!" Filipp lashed out.

Bob just huffed and looked at the ground. Filipp sighed and stood up.

"We should probably move out. The colony's depending on us for food." he said as everyone got up.

Everyone turned on their flashlights and walker deeper into the dark building. They found the staircase and started to climb. Once they reached the fourth floor, Carl cautiously opened the door.

"It's safe." he stated as the opened the door all the way.

The group quickly entered and aimed all around the room, checking for hostile creatures. When they confirmed that there weren't any, they all relaxed.

"Let's look around." Filipp suggested.

The group split up in two groups in the large room. Carl, Bob, and Sarah checked the left as Jack and Filipp checked the right. They found some useful scrap metal and supplies, but no food. All of a sudden, a loud hissing was heard.

"What the fuck was that?" Sarah asked.

Before anyone could respond, a dog sized spider crawled out of the air vent and hissed at them through its saliva filled mandibles.

"No no no no… not Spiders!?" Carl cried fearfully.

The Spider must have sensed his fear because it tackled him to the ground and bit his neck.

"HEEEELP!" he screamed as he felt its venom enter his bloodstream.

Sarah hit the arachnid with the butt of her rifle, successfully knocking it away. Filipp shot it repeatedly before it could get up. Once he was certain it was dead, he reloaded his rifle.

Everyone ran up to Carl.

"Carl! Shit, hang on… you're gonna be okay!" Sarah yelled as she took out her medical kit.

"Don't bother; the poison has already gotten in his body. The only thing we can do is end his suffering." Filipp said regrettably.

"NO! HE STILL HAS A CHANCE!" Sarah yelled as Bob held her back.

Jack took out his pistol and aimed at Carl's head. He turned the safety off and squeezed the trigger. The bullet quickly entered his brain, ending his suffering. Bob released Sarah as Jack sheathed his pistol.

Everyone stood there in silence for awhile, but were interrupted by more hissing.

"Shit! I forgot they work in groups!" Bob yelled as he reloaded his AR-15.

A bunch of Spiders crawled out of the vents and out the door the group came through earlier, all hissing at the group of four.

"We're surrounded!" Sarah cried with fear.

"Just fucking shoot!" Filipp yelled as he started firing his rifle.

The group began shooting the Spiders, but with every Spider killed, two more took its place.

One of the Spiders shot a web at Bob and dragged his screaming form into one of the vents, never to be seen again.

"CARL!" Sarah yelled in anguish, only for three Spiders to jump on her back and infect there venom into her.

"FUCK!" Filipp screamed as he saw his squad mates be dragged away.

Jack ran out of rifle ammunition, so he through the useless gun at the one of the Spiders heads and took out his pistol. He turned on the laser sight and commenced shooting at the beasts.

The Spiders were coming in a large quantity; there was no chance that they'd survive.

In pure desperation, Filipp took out one of his grenades that he's been saving for a rainy day, and pulled the pin. He threw it a cluster of the Spiders.

"FIRE IN THE FUCKING HOLE!" he yelled as he and Jack took cover.

**KA-BOOM!**

The explosion managed to kill the majority of the Spiders and created a hole in the floor.

"Quick, down the hole!" Filipp instructed.

They both got up and ran for the whole, but another Spider tackled the Russian to the ground. Jack turned around to help him.

"Just go! I'll make sure they don't follow you!" Filipp yelled as he struggled with the Spider.

Without hesitating, Jack ran to the hole and jumped down, but ended up dropping his pistol in the process.

Filipp managed to kick the Spider off him. He quickly stood up and took out his last grenade.

"See you in hell." he said as he pulled the pin.

All the Spiders leapt for him, but were interrupted before they got to him.

**KA-BOOM!**

The large explosion killed both the Spiders and Filipp. The blast managed to cause most of the ceiling to block the hole that Jack went down.

* * *

Everything was dusty on the third floor because of the explosion. Jack wiped the dust out of his lens and slowly stood up. He activated the flashlight attached to the left side of his belt to illuminate the area. The room he is in is covered with rubble, debris, and lots of dust.

He took out his cold steel tomahawk and looked around cautiously.

He heard a growl behind him and whipped around. A tall humanoid creature entered the room with its black beady eyes fixated upon him. It has dark skin with elongated arms. It is hairless and has a skinny form. Its hands have five long claws at the end of its fingers. Its head looks very thick and is noseless. The creature's mouth is riddled with needle like teeth.

The Brute growled again and started to speed walk to Jack's location. He jumped out of the way, moments before its long claws could sliced hm.

He rolled away and adopted a combat stance. The Brute growled louder and walked towards him again. Jack quickly scooped up a rock and threw it at the monster's head, but it didn't even flinch from the attack.

It raised its arm to strike, but Jack positioned himself so that his flashlight was shining in the creature's eyes. The Brute covered its eyes and backed off with a high pitched growl.

Before it could recover, Jack ran forward and repeatedly chopped the mutant's skinny arm with his tomahawk. It roared in pain as its left forearm fell to the ground.

Jack continued to chop at the weakened creature, grunting loudly as he did so. The Brute tried to fight back, but the strikes came too frequently. Jack let his adrenaline take over as he gave chop after chop after chop.

Finally, the creature stopped moving and Jack stopped attacking. He fell to his hunches and breathed heavily. He saw a light to his left and saw a purple crystal. He tilted his head to the side and stood up.

Jack cautiously walked up to the crystal and tapped it with the end of his tomahawk. Considering it safe, he bent down and picked up the foreign object.

He stood up again and looked at the crystal as it began to glow brightly. Purple electricity began to shoot out of it and he began to feel woozy. He growled in frustration as he tried to let go of the crystal to no avail.

Finally after much struggle, he fell on his back from exhaustion. The last thing he saw before he passed out was a purple light.


	2. Homecoming

**Here's the second chapter of story! Only a day has passed and I already got three reviews. So far this is pretty successful. Even though Voltage isn't the main character anymore, he is still going to be in this story and I'm not gonna forget about him.**

Chapter 2: Homecoming

Jack slowly came to in a forest. He looked through his gas mask lens and saw tall mushrooms around him.

He brought his hand to his head, but was shocked when he saw a black scaled paw instead. He quickly looked himself over and saw more black scales.

Jack saw a puddle to his left and dragged himself to it. He looked into the water and saw his scaled reflection.

Jack realized that he was a dragon or some similar creature. His skin has been replaced with jet black scales and his underbelly is deep blue. The membranes on his wings are dark green, almost black. His head has two silver horns that are serrated. His silver tail blade bears a striking resemblance to his cold steel tomahawk as well. His body is literally covered in scars from his past battles, slash and bullet wounds alike. He couldn't see his face because of his gas mask that he is still wearing.

Jack sighed through his gas mask and slowly stood up on all fours. He took a few experimental steps, but got the hang of it at a surprising speed.

He sighed again and started walking in a random direction, not really caring about his destination. He kept walking for about an hour until he reached some kind of temple. There are many other dragons, all seeming to be young. He noticed that some were even his age.

Jack shook off his curiosity, remembering some bad memories involving him being shot at, and continued walking with his head down.

He saw a flashback of a bunch of men with white trench coats and gas masks shooting at him, each shouting, "white power!"

Jack shook off his uneasiness about the Klan and continued walking; ignoring the curious stares he received.

"Voltage? Is that you?" he heard an excited voice behind him, but chose to ignore it.

"Voltage wait!" the voice called as he heard footsteps run up to him.

Jack reached for his pistol, but sighed when he remembered he was unarmed. He slowly turned around and looked at the big yellow dragon in front of him.

"Volta… oh… you're not Voltage. I'm sorry I mistook you for someone else. Are you here to become a student here at the Temple?" Volteer asked after he realized his mistake.

Jack didn't say a word. The only noise he made was breathing through his gas mask.

"I'll just take that as a yes. If you would follow me please." Volteer said with a smile as he walked into the Temple.

Jack followed the elder dragon, but made sure to be prepared for an attack. Past carelessness has resulted in near fatal consequences. The two dragons walked for awhile until Volteer stopped them in front of a door.

"Now could you stay stationary while I explain to the other Guardians that you wish to enlist?" Volteer asked with a smile.

Once again, Jack didn't utter a word.

Volteer awkwardly nodded and entered the room. Jack heard a large group of people talking inside, but decided to be silent as always. After a few minutes he heard a new voice.

"You can come in now!" a sweet female voice called.

Jack shuddered at the kind female voice, but entered anyway. Inside the room are ten adult dragons. They were red, blue, yellow, green, dark red, gray, black, dark green, another black, and purple.

Jack silently entered the room and stood in front of the dragons.

"By the ancestors! What kind of mask are you wearing!?" Cyril asked in slight disgust.

Jack simply stared at the Ice Guardian, his breathing easily heard through the mask.

"He doesn't like talking." Volteer apologized.

"Anyway, my name is Terrador, Guardian of Earth." the green dragon introduced.

"My name is Volteer, Guardian of Electricity!" the yellow dragon said proudly.

Cyril, Guardian of Ice." the blue dragon stated.

"I'm Tavilla, Guardian of Fire." the red dragoness greeted with a smile.

"Ventus, Guardian of Wind." the gray dragon said quietly.

"I am Venenum, Guardian of Poison." The dark green dragon introduced.

"Name's Vex, the Guardian of Fear!" the dark red dragon said with slight suspense.

"Tenebris, Guardian of Shadow." the black dragon said simply.

"My name is Cynder, I'm not a Guardian, but I teach the art classes here." the black dragoness smiled warmly.

"And I'm Spyro, I teach advanced breath training." the violet dragon greeted.

Once again, Jack didn't utter a word.

"And your name is…" Vex encouraged politely.

Jack still didn't speak, he just silently stood there. Even if he wanted to speak, he wouldn't know what to say.

Before the dragons could continue, the door opened and two dragons walked in. One is an adult dragoness and the other is a dragon the same age as Jack.

"Hello everyone, we're here to…" Umbra started to speak, but stopped when she saw Jack.

She walked up to him and looked at him closely. She looked at his serrated horns and his coloration very closely.

"Is… is your father's name… Isaac Bedage?" she asked hopefully.

Jack reeled back slightly in shock, but slowly nodded after a short wait. Umbra gasped and brought Jack into a close embrace.

"You're my son!" she sobbed with happiness as she held him close.

Jack didn't move a muscle; he just stood there in surprise. He had a flashback of a Flyer latching onto him and scratching him with its razor sharp claws, but he quickly shook it off before anyone noticed his distress.

Umbra finally let go and looked at the dragon that entered with her.

"Come here Bedagi, I want you to meet your brother that I've told you about." Umbra told at her other son.

Bedagi is a black scaled dragon with gray eyes. His underbelly is lime green and his wing membranes are deep blue. His two silver horns curve like Umbra's and his tail blade resembles a serrated combat knife.

Bedagi walked up to the two of them with a happy smile.

'That mask is kinda creepy, but I can't believe I'm finally meeting my brother!' he thought to himself as he approached his mother and twin brother.

"What's your name? Is your father here?" Umbra asked sweetly.

Once again, Jack didn't speak.

"He must be really shy. I think he'll get along with you just fine, Ventus" Vex chuckled.

The Wind Guardian simply rolled his eyes at her joke.

"Didn't Voltage use the Pool of Visions to see his memories? Perhaps we could do that instead." the Ice Guardian thought aloud.

"That's a good idea, Cyril. Would you like to do that, young one?" Spyro asked with a friendly smile.

Jack stood there in thought for a moment, but eventually nodded slowly.

"Okay let's set everything up." Umbra announced.

Venenum took one of the seating pillows and dragged it in front of the pool.

"Lay down on your back here please. No need to be shy." the Poison Guardian smiled warmly.

Jack cautiously approached the pillow and slowly layed down, making sure his head was near the pool. If they were telling the truth, then he knew they wouldn't like what they see.

"There you go. Now just close your eyes and think of a memory that mentions your name and where your dad is." Venenum instructed.

Jack couldn't tell if they were friendly or not, or if the pool would even work, but he decided to do as instructed. He closed his eyes and thought about his past as everyone crowded around the pool to see the memory.

* * *

It is a bright and sunny day in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a busy work day and everyone is driving home from work. On the sidewalk is a hooded man with a leather jacket. The man is holding a one year old baby. This man is known as Isaac Bedage in this world.

Isaac continued walking down the sidewalk, but stopped in front of an electronics store and looked at the TVs that are showing the news.

"…and in other news; today North Korea has warned America and its allies that if the government don't join their war against Japan and Russia, then there would be dire consequences. They weren't specific with what the penalty however, but…" the anchor woman was cut off at that point when the screens were replaced with static.

"They should probably fix that." Isaac mumbled to himself as he started to walk away again.

All of a sudden, a loud air horn sounded in the sky. Isaac looked at the TVs again and saw that they displayed a red screen.

"Evacuate the area immediately." Isaac read aloud, starting to breath heavily.

Apparently everyone else got the message because the streets were quickly flooded with screaming people.

Isaac gasped as he held the baby close to himself. He started sprinting, secretly using his electric powers to speed himself up. He kept running with the crowd, until he came across a large metal bunker with armed soldiers at the door. People ran inside like a flock of sheep.

"We're almost there, hang on." Isaac told the baby in his arms.

He ran up to the door with a horde of civilians behind him. One of the soldiers stopped them from entering however.

"I'm sorry, but the bunker is already full. You all will have to relocate to another shelter!" the African American soldier instructed everyone.

"THE CLOSEST BUNKER IS FIVE MILES FROM HERE!" one of the civilians screamed.

"I'm sorry, but you need to move now!" the soldier said as his squad mates prepped their weapons just in case.

"I have a child goddammit!" Isaac yelled in desperation, holding the baby up for emphasis.

The black soldier looked at Isaac with pity in his brown eyes.

"I can't let you in." he said weakly.

"PLEASE!" Isaac literally begged.

The soldier just stood there as the air horns blasted with all there might. After about half a minute, he came to a conclusion.

"Okay, give him here!" he finally said.

Isaac reluctantly handed the baby over to the soldier, crying as he did so.

"Take care of Jack!" he told the soldier.

The soldier nodded and ran into the bunker as the other soldiers locked the door behind him.

Everyone screamed loudly and began pounding on the door, trying desperately to get inside.

"Oh my god… I'm gonna die…" Isaac said with wide eyes as he shook in fear.

There was a whistling noise above him and he looked up, only to see a white flash and hear a loud explosion. The vision ended with a very bright flash and a very loud **boom**.

* * *

Jack slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He looked to his right to see Umbra crying while being held by Venenum. He also saw Bedagi crying next to him.

"Is dad really… gone?" he asked with loud sobs.

Jack nodded emotionlessly, earning another sob from his brother.

Everyone sat there in silence for awhile, all absorbing the scene they just witnessed.

Voltage is dead.

Once Umbra calmed down enough, she let go of her Uncle and walked up to Jack to hug him. He took a step back however in retaliation.

"You don't need to be scared, Jack. I'm your mother." Umbra comforted, but Jack still backed off.

She sighed sadly and sat on one of the pillows. Bedagi nuzzled her foreleg to comfort her.

'What could you possibly have experienced to make you this way?' Umbra thought to herself.

"Could you at least take your mask off so we can see your face? I think you owe your mother that much." Cynder said with a disapproving frown.

Jack stood there in silence, but slowly took off the gas mask. He looked at them all with his dark brown eyes. His face bears a striking resemblance to Voltage's, but he has a nasty scar going across his entire face. It starts at the left side of his forehead and ends at his lower right jaw.

"No one that young should have that many scars." Tenebris mumbled as Terrador nodded in agreement.

"Um… shouldn't we give Jack a dragon name?" Bedagi tried to change the subject.

Umbra brought her head up at this.

"Me and Voltage thought of two good names. One was Bedagi which is taken of course, but the other is Tamhigan. It's Abenaki Native American for tomahawk." Umbra recalled.

"Tamhigan… that's a good name." Spyro complimented with a weak smile.

"Do you like that name?" Umbra asked Jack.

He simply gave a small shrug, but in reality, he really liked that name.

"Tamhigan it is then! Bedagi, could you introduce your brother to your friends?" Umbra asked with a cracked voice.

Her son took the hint and motioned for Tamhigan to follow him. His brother put his gas mask back on and followed him out of the room.

Once they left the room and shut the door, Umbra released a heavy sigh.

"I can't believe he's gone…" she said under her breath.

Spyro and Cynder sat on both sides of her and rested a wing over her shoulders.

"Remember what Ignitus said? When a dragon dies, they become one with nature. I'm sure Voltage is happy where he is. He's probably watching over us right now." Spyro comforted softly.

"You think so?" Umbra asked quietly.

"I know he is." he confirmed with a smile.

"He's probably thinking, 'Why is my crazy mate sad when she should be happy that she met our other son?'" Cynder hypothesized.

Umbra giggled at her friend's silly remark.

"Thanks guys… you always know what to say." she smiled with gratitude.

"No problem. We're always here for you." Spyro said with a nod.

All the adult dragons sat there in silence, each thinking of the events they just witnessed.

"I wonder where he got all those scars." Tavilla said quietly.

Everyone looked at the pool again, each wondering how exactly Tamhigan got the scars he has and if they could get him to use the Vision Pool again.


	3. Allies

**Got another chapter here! I've decided to do something a little different than I usually do. I'm planning on making this story very psychological and I'm gonna give Jack/Tamhigan some mental issues. Let's face it; if you spend your entire life fighting for survival in a hellish world, you're gonna be a little screwed up in the head. **

Chapter 3: Allies

Bedagi is leading Tamhigan down a hallway. Some of the students stared at Tamhigan's gas mask, but they were ignored. The two brothers exited the Temple and walked into the garden. There are four dragons sitting in the grass under a tall mushroom.

"Tamhigan, these are my friends." Bedagi said as they walked up to the group.

"Hey Bedagi! Who's this?" a red scaled dragon asked.

"This is my brother, Tamhigan. He just arrived a few hours ago. He doesn't like to talk and he wears a strange mask, but he's cool." Bedagi introduced his brother with a smile.

"My name's Bellator! Nice to meet ya!" one of the dragon's introduced while puffing out his chest.

Bellator has dark purple, almost black, scales. His underbelly is golden yellow and his wing membranes are red. He has green eyes and four horns that resemble Cynder's. His tail blade resembles Spyro's, but it's silver instead of yellow.

"I'm Forma, Bellator's sister." the dragoness with violet eyes said with a warm smile.

Forma has a smooth and curvy body with black scales. Her underbelly and wing membranes are pinkish red. Her horns are silver and resemble Spyro's. She has a tail blade that looks like Cynder's, but it's slightly longer.

"My name is Inferno!" the fire dragon greeted with a nod.

Inferno has red scales and orange eyes. His underbelly and wing membranes are bright yellow. He has two yellow horns that look like Ember's and a tail blade that is very similar to Flame's.

"They call me Amare." the fear dragoness purred with a grin.

Amare's eyes are bronze colored and her scales are dark red, almost black. Her underbelly and wing membranes are white, greatly contrasting with her scales. She has two lightning shaped horns that are black and a pitchfork tail blade that is also black.

"We heard that you and your dad come from a whole other world! What's it like there?" Inferno asked excitedly.

Tamhigan just shook his head slightly, no.

"Um, I'll explain later…" Bedagi said as he scratched the back of his head.

The group just shrugged as Bedagi sat next to his friends.

"Do you want to sit down, Tamhigan?" Forma asked politely.

The gas mask dragon simply shook his head.

"Do you know what element you have?" Amare asked curiously.

Tamhigan tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Wow, you really aren't from around here." Bellator stated moments before his sister punched his foreleg.

"Ouch! I was just saying…" he mumbled as he rubbed his sore foreleg.

"Wanna learn what element you have? Sorry I couldn't help, but eavesdrop." Pelko said as he walked into the garden towards the group of six.

"Hi dad! Yeah I think Tamhigan should know about his element." Amare said happily.

"Alrighty then, follow me to the gym!" the adult fear dragon announced goofily.

The dragons who were sitting down stood up and they all followed Pelko inside.

"I knew your father you know… he was a good dragon." Pelko said mournfully.

Bedagi's friends were slightly confused, but they soon connected the dots and bowed their heads in respect. Tamhigan didn't even look at them, he just looked straight forward.

'What could have traumatized him to make this kid this… empty?' Pelko questioned in his head.

The seven dragons entered the gym and walked to one of the many rings. A straw dummy poofed up a few yards in front of Tamhigan.

"Okay… now take off your gas mask and close your eyes." Pelko instructed.

Tamhigan hesitantly took off his gas mask and placed it on the floor next to him. He slowly closed his eyes and went into deep thought.

"Where did he get a scar like that!?" Bellator whispered to Inferno, who shrugged in response.

"Now look within yourself. Do you feel anything?" Pelko asked.

Tamhigan wasn't listening; he was having a flashback.

* * *

Jack is walking down a dark hallway. He's wearing his combat uniform and carrying his guns. His breathing was easily heard through his gas mask.

While he was walking, two men wearing white trench coats and milky white gas masks walked up to him.

"Jack Bedage?" the Klan member to his left asked.

Jack nodded slowly.

"You're under arrest for trespassing in white man territory. You are to come with us for execution." the Klan soldier to the right stated seriously.

Jack looked at the AR-15 assault rifles they were carrying, then there masked faces. He quickly raised his ARX 160 rifle and shot the soldier to the left in the chest. Before the other one could do anything, he shot the Klan member in the head with two bullets.

The two soldiers fell down with a thud, but Jack realized that the first one was still alive.

"You are… a wanted man *gasp* the Ku Klux Klan will kill you! *cough* White po…!" the soldier was shot in the head before he could finish his final words.

Jack heard footsteps behind him and dived behind the corner of the hallway. Four more Klan members stormed into the hallway and began shooting at Jack's position with the intent to kill.

Realizing he didn't have much rifle ammo, Jack switched his assault rifle for his Ruger pistol. He switched the safety off and got it ready to fire.

When the gunfire ceased because they had to reload, Jack went out of cover and shot the closest soldier repeatedly in the chest. While the soldier fell dead, he shot a second soldier in the head.

Jack grunted loudly as the third soldier managed to shoot his chest. Fortunately, his bullet proof vest stopped the bullet and only left a bruise.

He dove back into cover as the two soldiers opened fire. He ejected the empty magazine and pushed in a new one into the receiver. He pulled the slide back and let go, hearing the click as it went back into place.

He quickly jumped out of cover and shot the third soldier twice; one in the shoulder and the other in the lower jaw.

He went back in cover as the last soldier started firing again.

"I'm gonna kill you, you fucking savage!" the soldier screamed in anger.

His cruel words had no effect on Jack for he jumped out of cover again and shot the last soldier in the forehead.

The soldier slumped to the ground as Jack placed his pistol in his holster. He turned around and continued walking down the hallway as if nothing happened.

* * *

"Do you feel any energy, Tamhigan?" Pelko asked for the third time.

The former human opened his eyes and shook off the flashback.

"Maybe we should try again another time." Forma suggested softly.

Tamhigan shook his head and concentrated. He felt some kind of foreign feeling within his chest. He focused the energy towards his throat and felt the need to open his mouth.

Everyone in the gym watched as Tamhigan released a blue lightning bolt at the practice dummy. His lightning is much different than Isaac's however. Instead of being light blue, it is a very dark shade of blue, almost navy blue.

The dark blue lightning struck the dummy and it disintegrated on the spot, leaving behind a pile of ash. Everyone in the gym began cheering for Tamhigan's success.

"Holy crap! He can breathe blue electricity like you!" Inferno yelled to Bedagi.

"Yeah, but his is much darker." the black dragon observed with wide eyes.

Pelko heard Tamhigan mumble something incomprehensible and leaned in closely.

"Say again?" the fear dragon asked gently.

"…one …more…." Tamhigan said extremely quietly in a very deep voice.

Pelko nodded and another dummy popped up.

The former human did the same thing as last time, except something different happened. Instead of dark blue electricity, a cloud of shadow poured out of his maw and enveloped the dummy.

Tamhigan's eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't stop until the dummy was fully enveloped in darkness. Once it was, he shut his mouth. The shadows cleared slowly, revealing the dummy lying on the ground a few feet away with straw sticking out of some parts of its body.

"He has shadow breathe too!" Bellator shouted in surprise.

"He's like you Bedagi, except he has shadow breathe instead of poison!" Forma said excitedly.

Tamhigan breathed deeply to calm down and put his gas mask back on. He jumped slightly as Pelko patted him on the back.

"Good job! It's very rare for a dragon to have more than one element, especially when one of them is as unique as that!" the fear dragon praised with a big smile.

He didn't answer; he just looked at all the students cheering at him with unease. He's not used to positive attention at all. He had a quick flash back of a Klan member running at him with a machete, but he quickly shook it off before anyone noticed his stress. He was thankful for his gas mask, because he felt beads of sweat drip down his face.

"You should probably get something to eat now." Pelko recommended to the group.

Everyone, but Tamhigan nodded. The large group left the gym and walked into the hallway to get to the cafeteria.

"How did you know what to do without any instructions?" Bellator asked curiously.

Tamhigan just gave a half hearted shrug, not even bothering to look at the dark purple dragon.

"It's impolite to not look at someone when they are talking to you." Forma scolded him.

The gas mask dragon didn't even bother responding in any way.

The black dragoness sighed as the group entered the cafeteria and walked in line. They waited patiently until they were finally in the front.

"Hi mom! What'd for dinner tonight?" Inferno asked the dragoness behind the counter.

Chicken breasts and salad, sweetie." Ember smiled at her son.

She looked and saw Tamhigan behind the group.

"Ah you must be Umbra's other son! We and the other teacher's have been talking about you. I'm Ember, the head chief!" the pink dragoness said with a warm smile.

The gas mask dragon gave a hesitant nod in greeting.

"A shy one I see, that's fine. Would you like some chicken breasts and a salad?" Ember asked, her smile not falling for a second.

He nodded again and Ember placed the desired chicken on a plate. She put the plate and a bowl of salad on a tray and handed it to Tamhigan.

He nodded in thanks, not used to people giving him food, and followed the rest of the group to one of the tables. He sat down between his brother and Inferno.

Tamhigan took off his gas mask, set it on the table, and started eating the fresh meat.

"That's a really cool mask you have. What's it for exactly?" Bellator asked curiously.

Tamhigan stopped eating and stared at the dark purple dragon.

"…breathing…" he said just loud enough for the group to hear.

"Breathing? Do you have trouble breathing?" Forma asked with a worried expression.

The former human shook his head. Everyone put a talon on their chins in thought.

"Is it hard to breath at your world?" Amare asked finally.

Tamhigan pointed to the window with a talon.

"You can't breathe outside in your world?" Bedagi guessed.

His brother nodded in confirmation and continued eating.

Bedagi chose that moment to explain to the group what happened in the human world and what happened to their father. Everyone at the table comforted the two brothers. Bedagi thanked them while Tamhigan just continued eating.

He had another flashback. This time a creature with long tentacles was mauling a small child while he and the other adults were trying to shoot it off the kid. He heard the child's pained screams as if he was there again and watched as the child went limp in the beast's grasp.

"Tamhigan! Are you okay?" Bedagi asked as everyone stared at him with worried expressions.

He looked down at his tray and saw that he clawed into it while he was having his flashback. He nodded to the group and quickly finished eating.

'What happened to you over there?' Bedagi thought worriedly.

Everyone finished eating and put there trays away. Tamhigan made sure to grab his gas mask before they left. The group began to walk to the residential part of the Temple.

"The Temple has dorms for regular students, but when your parents actually work here, you get to live in an apartment with them." Bellator explained as they walked outside and towards a group of buildings behind the school.

"Each building has two or three apartments. Our building only has two, which means we're gonna be neighbors!" Forma said excitedly.

Inferno and Amare said goodnight to Tamhigan, Bedagi, Bellator, and Forma before they left for their own apartments. Bellator led the group to a tall building that is the farthest away from the school.

"This is our building. We're on the first floor." Bedagi explained to his brother as they entered the building.

Bellator and Forma said goodnight to the two brothers and walked upstairs. Bedagi opened the door to their left and held it open for his brother. Tamhigan enter cautiously and looked around.

The apartment is very spacious with a high ceiling. There are plenty of seating pillows and bookshelves. There is a large navy blue rug on the floor and the walls are made from maple wood. There is a fancy chandelier on the ceiling with lit candles.

"The door directly to your left leads to the kitchen. Mom likes to make sweets and other good stuff on occasion. The door a little farther is her room. We're not allowed in there unless we knock. The door straight ahead is my room; the same rule applies. And the room to the right is yours." Bedagi explained as he took a seat on one of the pillows.

The door opened behind them and Umbra entered the apartment. She smiled once she saw her two sons together.

"Hello you two. Did you have a good day?" she asked nicely as she shut the door behind her.

"Yeah we did. We learned what element Tamhigan has!" Bedagi replied excitably.

"Really, what is it?" Umbra asked, clearly interested.

"He can breathe electricity, except his is dark blue. He can also breathe shadows like you!" Bedagi explained.

"Wow! Is that true!?" there mother asked with an excited smile.

Tamhigan held his gas mask close to his chest and nodded.

Umbra walked up to her two sons and hugged them both.

"I'm so proud of you two!" she said as she hugged them closely.

Bedagi happily hugged back with a smile on his face. Tamhigan didn't hug back, but he didn't move away either. Umbra finally let them go and smiled down at them.

"You two should probably get some rest. You have school tomorrow." she said, hearing Bedagi grown.

Tamhigan tilted his head in confusion.

"That's right, you're going to school!" Umbra said, but frowned when he still looked confused.

"Haven't you ever gone to school?" Bedagi asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tamhigan shook his head, no.

"Do you know what school is?" Umbra questioned.

Once again, Tamhigan shook his head.

"Oh… well school is a place where children and young adults learn to live out there in the world." Umbra explained.

Her son just looked at her and held up his tomahawk tail blade.

"Life is more than just fighting." his mother said.

He actually scoffed at this and looked at her as if she was crazy.

Umbra frowned at this, but her smile slowly returned.

"You two really should get to bed, it's getting late." she said softly.

Bedagi nodded and gave his mother another hug.

"Goodnight, mom." he said happily.

"Goodnight, Bedagi." Umbra whispered.

They let go of each other and he hugged his brother.

"Goodnight, Tamhigan." he said with a smile.

He didn't respond, he just allowed his brother to embrace him without interruption. Bedagi finally let him go and he walked into his room.

Umbra walked up to her son and gave him one more hug.

"Goodnight, Tamhigan." Umbra said gently.

She hugged him for awhile, simply enjoying the hug she's been denies for eighteen years, but she eventually released him. Tamhigan gave an awkward nod and walked into his new room. He closed the door behind him and sighed quietly.

The room is surprisingly well kept considering the fact that no one's lived in it. The floor has a black rug with blue lightning bolts on it. There is a bookshelf and a desk on one side of the room and a closet near the door. On the other side of the room is a nightstand and a sleeping pillow with a blue blanket.

Tamhigan placed his gas mask on the nightstand and looked at the pillow. He began to recall his own room; the dusty floor, the cracked concrete wall, and the dirty mattress on the ground.

He shook away the bad memories and layed down on the pillow. He pulled the blanket over himself and got comfortable. He was amazed at just how soft the silk felt against his obsidian colored scales. He snuggled up in the blanket and closed his eyes. He slowly fell asleep, hoping that he wouldn't have another nightmare or flashback.


	4. I am not Alone

**I have a new chapter for you readers! I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be tough writing both visions and flashbacks, but I think I'll get the hang of it in time. Enjoy this chapter and remember to review!**

Chapter 4: I am (not) Alone

Jack woke up to see the clear sky through his gas mask lens. He also heard fast paced music playing in the distance.

He grunted as he slowly stood up. Jack noticed that he was in some kind of clearing in the forest. He spotted a stage with some kind of metal band playing a song. The stage has the word "Dethklok" written on the edge of the stage.

Jack's eyes widened behind his mask when he realized he was in his human form and that the place wasn't snowy or eradiated.

"It's about time you got up." a cheery male voice said behind him.

Jack quickly unsheathed his cold steel tomahawk and whipped around. Standing a few feet away from him is a hooded man wearing a spiked leather jacket. The man stood there with his arms crossed, a smile could be seen behind his beard.

"Would you really hurt your father?" Isaac asked with fake hurt.

Jack lowered the tomahawk, but didn't put it away. Isaac let his arms fall to his sides.

"My you've grown. I haven't seen you since you were a baby." he said with a warm smile.

Isaac walked up to his son and gave him a caring hug.

"I'm sorry I haven't been there for you. I'm so sorry." Isaac said nearly in tears as he held his son closer.

Jack didn't hug back, he just stood there as still as a statue. After a minute or so passed, Isaac let go and smiled at his son.

"It really is good to see you, son." Isaac said quietly.

The hooded man looked up at the clear sky and frowned.

"I have to let you wake up now. Take good care of your mother and brother, they need you." Isaac said as the area around them started to glow brightly.

"Goodbye… I love you." he said moments before Jack woke up.

* * *

Tamhigan slowly opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of his room. He slowly sat up and looked out the window. He saw a bird resting on a mushroom outside his room. He flinched when it started chirping, but relaxed when he realized it wasn't hostile.

He switched his gaze to his gas mask, watching as the angry looking lens stared back at him.

He looked at his desk and saw something that wasn't there yesterday. He got out of bed and looked at the item. It is a leather sling with a metal clip on it. He saw a note next to it and picked it up.

_I got you this leather sling so you can easily carry your mask. Hugs and kisses._

_-Mom_

Tamhigan put down the note and gently grabbed the sling. He pulled it over his neck and secured it on his back. He picked up his gas mask and clipped it to the sling. He gave it a few experimental tugs to make sure it would stay in place.

When he was certain it wouldn't budge, he sat down on his seating pillow at his desk. Before he could stop it, he had another flashback.

* * *

Jack and some other man are standing on a rooftop, looking over the destroyed and snow covered city of Boston. They are both lying down on their stomachs and carrying FR F2 sniper rifles. They are looking down at a group of people who are wearing similar uniforms as them.

"Okay, we just gotta make sure no monsters get 'em…" Jack's partner said with a Swedish accent.

They watched their allies as they searched for supplies in a supermarket. After a bit of searching, the group exited the supermarket with full backpacks.

"Alright… now we just need to protect them as they make their way back to the colony elevator." his partner muttered; pulling the bolt of his rifle back and manually inserting a bullet.

All of a sudden, a flock of Flyers flew over the group in the street and began attacking with their clawed feet.

"Shit! Open fire!" the Swedish sniper yelled in surprise.

They both fired shot after shot at the infant-like mutants, but ended up missing most of the time because of their flight capabilities. Their comrades went down one by one until it was only them left.

"Fuck! We need to get out of here now!" the Swedish man screamed when he noticed the Flyers heading for them with their demonic smiles.

They two snipers jumped to their feet and ran for the fire escape. They sprinted down the metal stairs and shot every Flyer that got too close for comfort. Once they got close to the ground, they jumped down to the street and ran for the tunnel that leads to the colony.

They both had a tough time running from the snow and the Flyers repeated attempts to snatch them away only made thing harder for them.

They narrowly dodged the Flyers and ran inside the tunnel. They worked together and shut the big metal door. The door shut with a loud industrial bang and the two survivors slumped to the floor while panting heavily.

"That was too close." the Swedish sniper panted.

Jack nodded and looked at the ground. His train of thought was broken however when his partner screamed in pain.

Jack quickly stood up and looked at his partner's body get torn apart by a tentacle monster that he decided to call the Twitcher because of its fast past movements.

The Twitcher is a humanoid creature with pale gray skin and no arms. Its arms have been replaced with three long tentacles on each side. The tentacles have sharp barbs at the end of them. It doesn't have eyes or a nose, but it has an overly wide mouth with small razor sharp teeth. It slowly walked towards Jack while gurgling profusely; saliva dripping from its mouth with each gurgle.

Jack switched his sniper rifle for his pistol and began shooting its chest repeatedly. The bullets penetrated the creature's torso, but it didn't seem to be doing any damage whatsoever. He tried shooting the tentacles, but they were twitching so much he couldn't hit them. He tried to shoot the head, but it also twitched too much to get a good shot.

Jack growled in frustration and replaced his pistol for his cold steel tomahawk. He ran towards the creature and expertly chopped off one of its tentacles.

The Twitcher screeched in pain and bit into Jack's left shoulder. He screamed from the unexpected attack and desperately tried to chop off its other tentacles. He chopped off all of the tentacles on its left side before he was released.

He realized that his wound would scar over, but he focused on the Twitcher instead. He ran towards the gurgling creature again and started chopping the monster's remaining tentacles.

The Twitcher tried to stab him with its razor sharp barbs, but Jack simply chopped every tentacle that got near him. Blue blood poured on him with every chop he made.

Once all the tentacles were severed, Jack backed away from the monster. The Twitcher started to sway on the spot as if it was having trouble balancing. It eventually fell to the floor with a loud thud and released one last putrid gurgle.

Jack sighed heavily and sheathed is tomahawk. He looked down at the dead creature, the same type of creature that killed that eight year old boy right in front of him a few days ago.

He swallowed uneasily and turned around, not even bothering to wipe the blood off himself. He walked into the elevator door and pulled the lever. The elevator began to descend into the colony below.

* * *

Tamhigan gasped when the flashback was over. He placed his paw on his forehead and tried to forget the horrors of his past. His efforts were in vain however as he started to recall his childhood once again… and that woman that ruined his life forever.

He felt tears roll down his cheeks as he recalled the painful memories back at the colony. He didn't utter a sound as he cried; his sorrow consisted of silent tears.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard knocking at his door. He whipped the tears away and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He walked to the door with a straight face and slowly opened it to see his brother standing at the other end.

"Hey bro! You ready for breakfast?" Bedagi asked cheerfully.

Tamhigan nodded without emotion and closed the door behind him as he stepped out. He smelled eggs and bacon cooking in the kitchen as he and his brother sat down in the living room.

"Did you sleep well?" Bedagi asked once they were seated next to each other.

Tamhigan simply nodded, not wanting to worry the only people who have ever cared about him.

"That's good to here." his brother said, not noticing Tamhigan's distress.

Umbra walked into the room carrying two trays with eggs and bacon.

"Here you go boys! I made them myself!" she said with a warm smile as she set the trays in front of her sons.

"Alright! Thanks mom!" Bedagi thanked moments before he dug in.

Her other son nodded in thanks before he slowly ate, savoring every bite.

Umbra walked back into the kitchen, but came back a little while later with her own tray of food. She sat across from them and started eating as well.

"Do you like that sling, Tamhigan?" Umbra asked sweetly.

He nodded and patted his gas mask's lens for emphasis.

"I thought you'd like it. You can't just set it on the floor whenever you're not using it." Umbra giggled.

They ate as a family and simply enjoyed each other's presence. When they were finished eating, Umbra took the trays and went back into the kitchen.

Bedagi grabbed two school bags and gave one to his brother, who took it with a raised eyebrow.

"It has all the stuff you'll need for school today." Bedagi answered his unasked question.

Tamhigan nodded in understanding and looked through the bag. He saw note paper, textbooks, and quills for writing. He looked at the books as if they were the Holy Grail itself.

"What, you've never seen a book before?" Bedagi joked.

Tamhigan looked up at his brother and shook his head, no.

"Really? You've never seen a book before?" his brother asked skeptically.

Tamhigan shook his head again and started reading the cover. He squinted his eyes and leaned in closer, having trouble reading the long word on the cover.

"It says Mathematics." Umbra said as she walked into the room and saw her son having trouble deciphering the word.

The former human nodded in thanks and he delicately put the textbook away as if it would break if he didn't treat it right.

"I talked to the Guardians and other teachers yesterday and you two will be in the same classes. Just follow your brother to each class and you'll be fine." Umbra told Tamhigan with a soft pat on the back.

The three dragons walked out of their apartment and Umbra locked the door behind them. They all walked outside into the morning sunlight. Tamhigan looked up into the clear sky with amazement.

"I'll see you two in history class!" Umbra called as she walked in a separate direction.

Tamhigan followed his brother into the Temple and into one of the hallways. There were students left and right, each heading for class.

Tamhigan saw quick flashes as they walked. The stone walls turned into concrete with pipes coming up from the floor. The students turned into Ku Klux Klan members and aimed at him with their various guns while chanting there evil "white power" chants. He started breathing heavily and began to sweat.

"Are you alright, bro?" Bedagi asked as they walked in the hall.

Tamhigan took deep breathes to calm down. The Klan soldiers turned back into the normal students and the walls returned to stone in a quick flash. The former human glanced at his brother and nodded.

'He must not like big crowds.' his brother figured with a simple shrug.

They both kept walking down the hallway until they reached the math room.

"Ready for your first class ever?" Bedagi asked with enthusiasm.

Tamhigan cracked his neck and nodded with a serious expression.

"HA! That's the spirit!" his brother said happily with a big smile.

The two brothers looked at each other, then at the door. Bedagi opened the door for them and they entered the classroom together.


	5. First Day of School

**I apologize for the late entry, but life happened. I felt kinda bad for breaking my one chapter a day streak, so I got a big chapter for you all.**

Chapter 5: First Day of School

Bedagi and Tamhigan entered the classroom and saw a wind dragon at the teacher's desk. The two brothers walked up to the adult dragon, gaining his attention.

"Good morning Bedagi. This must be your brother, Tamhigan." the wind dragon greeted.

"Yes he is, Brise!" Bedagi said enthusiastically, causing Brise to smile at his two students.

"There is an empty seat between Bellator and Frysa. You will sit there" the adult wind dragon instructed.

Tamhigan nodded and the two brothers turned around to take their seats.

'They are like polar opposites. Bedagi is enthusiastic and happy, but Tamhigan is quiet and… emotionless.' Brise thought to himself with a frown.

Tamhigan took his seat between Bellator and Frysa without a word to either. He took a quick glance at the dragoness to his right.

Frysa is an ice dragoness with aqua colored eyes. She has a smooth and curvy body with light blue scales. Her wing membranes and underbelly are dark blue. She has two white horns that curve forward and a white diamond shaped tail blade.

Frysa looked at Tamhigan and giggled shyly. The black dragon just ignored her and looked to the front of the class. Brise stood up and looked at all of his students.

"Welcome back everyone. Now today we will be starting slope." the wind dragon said as the class groaned in protest.

"When are ever going to be using slope?" Bellator grumbled quietly.

Tamhigan recalled all the times he used a sniper rifle and had to calculate the distance of the target and the bullet drop using slope.

"I am giving you all a practice worksheet. It's not going to be graded; I just need to see where you're all at." Brise announced as he gave everyone a worksheet with multiple problems to work on.

Everyone started working when they got the worksheet. Brise sat down at his desk once he passed all the sheets out. After less than a minute passed, he noticed that Tamhigan wasn't working.

He frowned and stood up. The wind dragon calmly walked over to the black dragon's desk and looked down at him.

"Is there a reason why you're not working?" Brise asked quietly.

Tamhigan simply slid the worksheet over to him. Brise picked up the paper and quickly looked it over. His eyes widened as he read through it.

"These are all right! The handwriting is a little sloppy, but all these answers are correct!" Brise said in amazement.

"I think we've got a genius in here!" Bellator joked in good nature.

"How are you so good at slopes?" Brise questioned curiously.

Tamhigan took out a sheet of paper and started to draw a quick sketch of a sniper rifle. He drew a dotted line were the bullet would travel and another curved line for where and when the bullet would drop. Once the sketch was finished, he handed it to his teacher.

'A gun… Isaac.' Brise thought sadly as he recalled his deceased friend's drawing of a gun.

"Well… good job. Just work on your handwriting and you'll do fine here." the wind dragon stated before he returned to his desk.

Tamhigan leaned back in his seat and tried to relax, but his train of thought kept going back to a certain memory. Before he knew it, he was having another flashback.

* * *

Jack is walking down what looks like an underground market district. There are oil drums with fire in them here and there and dusty tents selling various food and supplies. There are many homeless people of all ages sitting and laying on mates in multiple areas.

While he was walking, he noticed a large man wearing a brown and dusty trench coat talking to a homeless child donning a tattered blue dress.

"If you come home with me, I promise to take good care of you. I just need you to perform a few special... favors for me." the fat middle-aged man smiled.

"W… what kind of favors?" the little girl asked fearfully.

"You'll see." the fat man grinned.

Jack calmly walked up behind the pedophile and lightly tapped his shoulder.

"Yeah? What do you wa…"

The fat man couldn't finish because Jack grabbed the back of the man's head and smashed his face against the concrete wall with a loud **thunk**. The man yelled in pain as he fell to the ground, trying to stop his nose from bleeding.

Jack glared at the pedophile through the lens of his gas mask. He raised his boot and repeatedly curb stomped the man's head until it was almost liquefied with gore and blood. Everyone in the market watched the scene, but quickly lost interest once the fat man was dead.

Jack slowly looked up at the terrified little girl. He held up his index finger, signaling for her to stay put. The little girl nodded with tears in her eyes. Jack nodded in approval and walked away.

He came back after a few minutes and crouched down in front of the scared child. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar. He slowly held it in front of the little girl.

The little girl slowly reached for the candy and took it. She hesitantly unwrapped the chocolate bar and started eating.

Jack patted the girl on the shoulder, stood up, and walked away without a word.

* * *

The flashback ended and Tamhigan sighed quietly. He looked around and saw that no one noticed him spacing out. He relaxed and looked at his scaled paws, hoping that the little girl is still okay. That was the day he earned one of his many nicknames, the "Guardian Demon."

Even though he was thought of as a guardian to others, he never actually helped adult. He would always protect children in their times of need if he could.

He looked down at his tomahawk tail blade, remembering all the evil men and women he killed to protect those who couldn't defend themselves. He remembered the old Native American stories he read, how a warrior would always carry their tomahawk no matter what. He brought his tail blade close and closed his eyes with the little pride he has with himself.

He jumped as the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

Everyone else simply stood up and started to leave the classroom.

"Come on bro, we gotta go to art class!" Bedagi smiled at his brother.

Tamhigan slowly stood up and followed his brother out the door and into the hallway. They kept walking until they came to another classroom.

Frysa is in front of the door and saw them approaching. She smiled shyly and politely opened the door for them.

"Thank you, Frysa!" Bedagi said as his brother nodded in thanks.

"No problem." the ice dragoness smiled.

The two brothers entered the art room. There are tables instead of desks so that four students could sit together. Bedagi lead his brother to the table where Inferno and Amare are sitting. Frysa sat at another table with a poison dragon.

Cynder stood up and smiled at the class.

"Hello everyone. Today, I want you all to draw an animal. It can be any animal you want. I have plenty of pictures if you need a reference. Just make sure to use as much of the paper as you can." the black dragoness instructed the class.

Everyone grabbed a sheet of drawing paper from the middle of the tables and started drawing.

"What are you guys gonna draw?" Bedagi asked the other three dragons.

"I'm drawing a wolf!" Inferno said as he looked at his reference picture and drew the wolf.

"I'm doing a pigeon." Amare smiled as she drew the bird's outline.

"What about you?" Inferno asked curiously.

"Me? I'm drawing a mountain lion!" Bedagi informed them.

The three friends looked at Tamhigan's drawing, but were slightly unnerved by the sketch. He is drawing a Feral from his world with bloody jaws and a severed human hand next to it. It's pupiless eyes stared up at the dragons with a deadly hunger.

"Did you make that thing up?" Amare asked, hoping he would nod.

Tamhigan shook his head, no.

The three dragons shivered at the dog-like monster and continued working.

Cynder checked to see how everyone was doing, but frowned when she saw Tamhigan's drawing. She heard their conversation and was unnerved by the former human's response to their question.

'That… thing puts grumblins and apes to shame…' she thought to herself as she took a quick glance at the split-jawed dog creature.

The four dragons continued drawing and socializing. Tamhigan didn't say a word, but he did pay attention to them, something he usually never does.

He glanced at Frysa and the poison dragon she is sitting with. He noticed the poison dragon glaring at him a few times and he didn't like it. Something about those two made Tamhigan interested, but he couldn't figure out what exactly. All he knew was that there is something off about that poison dragon, and he was never wrong with his feelings about people.

"That poison dragon is Jävel. He's Frysa's mate." Bedagi whispered to his brother when he noticed him looking at the poison dragon.

Jävel has dark green scales and average green eyes. His wing membranes and underbelly are both dark gray. He has eight dark gray horns that poke straight out of his skull. His tail blade is also dark gray and resembles a pendulum.

The rest of class went by without incident. Everyone gave Cynder their drawings once the bell rang. Tamhigan, Bedagi, Inferno, and Amare left the art room and walked to the cafeteria together.

"I'd never think you'd be the type to be an artist." Amare smiled at Tamhigan.

"It must run in the family." Bedagi joked as they entered the cafeteria.

In reality, Tamhigan had to draw maps and blueprints back in the post-apocalyptic realm. He needed to be one hundred percent accurate or he could've been killed or kill someone else.

Everyone said hello to Ember and got there food. The group of four spotted the rest of their friends at their usual table and sat down. Almost as soon as they sat down, Jävel walked up to Tamhigan.

"Hello there. I know you're new here and everything, so I'll let you off with a warning this time. Stay away from my mate." the poison dragon said seriously.

"Back off Jävel, Tamhigan and Frysa can talk to whoever they want to!" Bellator defended.

"I'm not doing any harm, I just want to get my point across." the poison dragon responded.

Tamhigan just looked at Jävel with a bored expression, not intimidated in the slightest. He's quite literally met eight year old who were tougher than the poison dragon. He once saw a young African American child kill a Ku Klux Klan soldier all by himself.

"Just stay away from Frysa." Jävel snorted as he walked away.

Tamhigan just shrugged slightly and continued eating. HE didn't want to waste his energy on such a pathetic and self centered opponent.

"Well that went better than I expected." Inferno stated.

"I kinda expected a fight myself." Forma admitted.

They all continued eating their lunch until the bell rang for the last class of the day. The group put away their trays and walked into the hallway. Bedagi, Forma, and Tamhigan separated from the group and entered the gym for combat training.

The three dragons joined the rest of the class and formed a line in front of Spyro and Pelko.

"Good afternoon class. Today you will be sparring against each other. Pelko and I will assign who fights who." Spyro instructed.

"Tamhigan, you're up first!" Pelko said quickly with a smile.

The former human put on his gas mask and stepped into the ring. Everyone was wondering how he'd use his elements with that mask on, but didn't say anything.

"Tesla! You're also up!" Spyro called.

An electric dragon walked into the ring, opposite of Tamhigan.

Tesla has dark yellow scales and light yellow eyes. His underbelly and wing membranes are golden yellow. He has two yellow horns that resemble a ram and a tail blade that looks like a lightning bolt.

"The rules are simple. No killing blows and no cheap shots. If you pin your opponent down and hold your tail blade to their neck, then you win. Are you both ready?" Pelko explained and asked the two dragons.

Ready!" Tesla called excitedly.

Tamhigan nodded silently.

"Fight!" Spyro shouted while waving his wings in an X motion.

Tesla immediately ran forward and tried to pin Tamhigan. The black dragon stood on his hind legs, grabbed his opponent with his forepaws, and shoved the yellow dragon to the ground with a loud grunt through his gas mask.

He returned to all fours as his opponent stood up in an instant. Tesla quickly moved back to get some distance between them and started shooting electric bolts at Tamhigan.

The gas mask dragon shielded himself with his wings and felt himself absorb the energy. He shrugged off the new feeling and focused his shadow element around his claws.

He ran towards Tesla and attempted to slash him with his shadowed claws, but the yellow dragon quickly jumped out of the way.

Tamhigan turned to face his opponent, but felt Tesla's tail slam against his gas mask. Luckily the mask protected him from the attack and ended up scratching Tesla's tail.

Tesla yelped in pain and jumped back to inspect the cuts on his tail. Tamhigan took advantage of this and jumped on top of the distracted electric dragon. He raised his tomahawk tail blade, formed dark blue electricity around it, and quickly brought it down. He stopped the chop just before the blade hit Tesla's neck.

"Tamhigan wins!" Pelko shouted excitedly.

Everyone in the gym cheered for Tamhigan and his win. The former human moved his tail blade away from Tesla's throat and helped him to his feet.

"Wow! You're such a good fighter! Man, you're so pro!" Tesla yelled quickly while bouncing in place slightly.

Tamhigan just nodded awkwardly and returned to Bedagi and Forma while Tesla walked to some other part of the crowd. The former human decided to keep his gas mask on for now as he watched his instructors.

"Alright! Next up is Forma!" Spyro called with a smile.

His daughter nodded and walked into the ring.

"Good luck sweetie." Spyro whispered as Forma walked past him.

"And her opponent will be Bedagi!" Pelko announced.

Bedagi smiled at his brother and entered the ring.

"The same rules apply as the last one. Are you both ready?" Spyro asked.

"Ready." Forma and Bedagi announced in unison.

"Fight!" Pelko yelled as he waved his wings.

Bedagi immediately fired light blue electricity at his opponent's feet to try to stun her, but she used her wind element to fly out of the way. Forma used her own yellow electricity to try to stun Bedagi, but he simply absorbed the attack like Tamhigan did.

Bedagi started firing globs of numbing venom at Forma when she landed, but she raised an ice shield in front of herself. When he stopped his attack, she jumped out of cover and screamed a fear attack that made Bedagi freeze in place.

Forma quickly pounced on Bedagi and brought her tail blade over his throat.

"Forma wins!" Spyro shouted with pride.

Everyone cheered as Forma helped Bedagi to his feet. They both bowed to the crowd and walked up to Tamhigan.

The rest of class went by rather quickly. Each student got a chance to fight and everyone was at least slightly entertained. Once the bell rang, everyone left the gym to spend the rest of the day as they pleased. Before Tamhigan, Bedagi, and Forma could leave, Spyro stopped them with a warm smile.

"You all did great today, especially you Tamhigan. You're a much better fighter than I expected you to be." the purple dragon praised.

Tamhigan simply nodded, not wanting the conversation to be about him.

"Would you two like to come over for dinner tonight? Cynder is making chicken." Spyro offered.

Bedagi looked at his brother, wordlessly asking for his opinion. Tamhigan simply shrugged.

"We'd love to, but we'll have to ask our mom first." Bedagi answered.

"Alright I hope to see you there." the purple dragon said as he stepped aside to let the three dragons leave.

"See you later dad!" Forma called as they left the gym. They entered the hall and began walking to the living section of the Temple. They went outside and walked to their apartment building and entered.

"See you two later!" Forma said as she climbed the stairs.

"Bye!" Bedagi called back as he opened his and his family's apartment.

The two brothers entered the living room and sat down on the seating pillows.

"Isn't it hot wearing that mask?" Bedagi asked as he got comfortable.

Tamhigan responded by taking his gas mask off and handing it to his brother.

Bedagi took the mask and put it on with Tamhigan's help. He quickly noticed that his breathing greatly increased in volume and his vision was slightly limited because of the lens. He also noticed that he was taking in a lot more oxygen than usual, making it much easier to breathe.

"This is cool." he said with amazement, his voice slightly muffled by the respirator.

Bedagi looked around the room with the tinted lens, marveling at the lain feeling of donning a gas mask. Tamhigan felt the very ends of his lips curve upwards into a barely noticeable smile.

They heard the door open and Umbra walked in. She stopped and smiled when she saw Bedagi wearing Tamhigan's gas mask.

"What are you two doing?" she giggled as she closed the door behind her.

"Mom, you got to try this thing on! It's so weird, but it's really cool!" Bedagi said excitably as he took it off.

"I think I'll pass on that." Umbra shook her head with a smile.

Bedagi huffed jokingly and handed the gas mask back to Tamhigan, who strapped it to his side securely.

"Mom, is it alright if we have dinner at Bellator and Forma's place?" Bedagi asked politely.

"Do you have Spyro and Cynder's permission?" Umbra questioned as she put her school stuff down.

"Yeah, Spyro invited us." her talkative son answered.

"Then it's alright by me." Umbra smiled.

"Alright! Thanks mom!" Bedagi cheered as he and Tamhigan stood up.

"Have fun you two." their mother giggled as they walked out the door.

"We will. Bye!" Bedagi called before he shut the door.

The two brothers walked up the stairs until they reached the second floor. They both look at each other once they reached their friends' door.

"Why don't you knock this time." Bedagi bowed goofily with a smile.

Tamhigan rolled his eyes and turned to face the door. He lifted his left forepaw and knocked three times.


	6. Nuclear Tribal

**Beware! This Chapter contains a scene with sexual content, but it's not a full blown lemon. Let me know what you guys think of the ending scene in the comments, I'm pretty damn proud of it!**

Chapter 6: Nuclear Tribal

Forma said goodbye to Bedagi and Tamhigan, and climbed the stairs. She was positive that Umbra would let them come over and she had a plan.

'I'm gonna get Tamhigan to talk if it's the last thing I do!' she thought to herself with a grin.

She opened the door to her family's apartment and entered.

Their apartment is very similar to their neighbors' below them except this apartment is more spacious. There is a royal purple rug on the wood floor and they have a dining table in the back of the living room. There are paintings of various landscapes such as Avalar and Warfang on the walls. Forma spotted her older brother on one of the seating pillows.

"Hey sis, what's up?" Bellator asked with a smile.

"Bedagi and Tamhigan are coming over for dinner." the black scaled dragoness answered as she took a seat next to her brother.

"What do you think of Tamhigan?" she asked her brother once she got comfortable.

"He seems alright to me, a little quiet though. Why?" Bellator asked curiously.

"There's just something different about him. I've noticed that he spaces out a lot and his eyes dart around as if he's expecting to be attacked when he does." Forma answered with a small sigh.

"I wonder what his world is like. First he wears that breathing mask, then he draws some monster animal from his realm. It makes me very curious." Bellator admitted.

Their conversation was interrupted when the door opened and their parents entered the apartment.

"Hi mom! Hi dad!" Forma and Bellator greeted in unison.

"That wasn't creepy." Spyro joked sarcastically.

"Hello to you too." Cynder giggled as she shut the door behind them.

Spyro sat between his two children as Cynder walked into the kitchen to make dinner.

"So how have your days been?" Spyro asked as he draped his wings over his son and daughter.

"C'mon dad, I'm too old for this!" Bellator groaned as he moved away.

"Well I'm not!" Forma declared as she cuddled closer to her father.

"We had a good day." Bellator said after he rolled his eyes.

"That's good to here." Spyro chuckled.

They all heard three knocks at the door and Bellator stood up.

"I got it!" he called as he walked to the door and opened it to see Tamhigan at the door with Bedagi behind him.

"Hey Tamhigan! Sup Bedagi! Come on in." the dark purple dragon greeted as he stepped aside to let his friends enter.

"Thanks." Bedagi said as he and his brother walked into the apartment.

"I see that your mother let you come over." Spyro smiled.

"Yep! You know you guys should really try on Tamhigan's mask, it's really cool." Bedagi said as he and his brother sat across from Spyro and Forma.

Bellator closed the door and sat next to his father.

"Really? Can I try it on?" Forma asked hopefully.

Tamhigan unclipped his gas mask and helped his friend put it on. Once it was secure, Forma looked around the room, marveling at the alien feeling the mask gave her.

"Wow, people with asthma would love this thing." she giggled as she listened to her own breathing.

"You sound funny." Bellator chuckled at the sound the respirator made.

Forma took off the gas mask and gave it back to Tamhigan. He offered it to Bellator, but he shook his head.

"Sorry, but that thing kinda creeps me out." he apologized.

"Do you think that mask could fit an adult?" Spyro asked, letting his curiosity take over.

Tamhigan adjusted the straps on the gas mask and help Spyro put it on. It was slightly too tight, but it wasn't unbearable. His purple eyes widened behind the lens when he noticed just how different his senses were while wearing the human made device.

"Wow." he muttered as he listened to his loud breaths.

'I can see why he likes wearing this thing. Everything seems more peaceful. This thing's only fault is the vision restriction.' Spyro thought as he took off the gas mask and handed it to Tamhigan.

"Thanks for letting us wear your mask. I know how special it is to you." Forma thanked politely.

Tamhigan nodded and sat down next to his brother. Everyone started talking about their day, but he felt his mind going to another place.

* * *

Jack is walking down a barely lit hallway with a gun drawn. Instead of using his ARX 160 assault rifle or Ruger SR9 pistol, he's wielding an FN P90 submachine gun with a laser attached to the barrel and a homemade suppressor to silence his gunshots.

He quietly speed walked to the end of the hall and peeked out the doorway. There are at least fifteen KKK soldiers loading up a cart full of food and ammo. The supplies were enough to support him for months.

Jack switched the safety off with a soft click and took aim.

"…so I popped a fuckin negro the other day. Dumb bastard begged for his life!" one of the soldiers laughed.

"That's friggen hilarious! Yesterday I… GET DOWN!" the other soldier started, but screamed when he saw a red dot on his friend's forehead.

Jack quickly squeezed the trigger and shot both soldiers repeatedly. He hid behind the doorframe when the other soldiers began firing on his position.

Realizing he didn't need it anymore, he took the suppressor off the gun's barrel and shoved it into one of his pockets.

He jumped out of cover, shot five more soldiers, and jumped back in cover just as bullets flew at his general direction. He peeked out of cover and shot another soldier with a short burst of gunfire.

The gun stopped firing however, so he went back in cover and attempted to fix the jammed weapon. He saw a grenade roll by his foot, but he quickly scooped it up and threw the homemade bomb back at them.

"SHIT!" one of the soldiers screamed before there was a loud explosion that shook the whole room.

Jack finally managed to fix the submachine gun and peeked out of cover. There is only one soldier left from the explosion. The last soldier is squirming on the ground because of a few broken ribs and a severely burned leg. He approached the downed soldier with his P90 trained on his head. A red dot could easily be seen on the man's white gas mask.

"WAIT PLEASE! I'M GONNA BE A DADDY!" the downed soldier begged with tears fogging up his lens.

Jack didn't care in the slightest as he squeezed the trigger; the 5.7x28mm round digging into the man's mask, skull, and brain. He knew he was doing the child a favor, killing its monster of a father.

Jack clipped the P90 over his chest and started stuffing the supplies into his backpack that he brought for this scavenging session.

Once he had enough supplies, he shouldered his backpack and walked away, leaving the rest for the poor.

He heard a shriek to his left and just barley jumped out of the way of an overhead swing. Jack looked up at his attacker and saw a man wearing a green windbreaker and ripped jeans. The man is welding a Japanese katana.

"Give me your food and I won't kill you!" the man ordered.

Jack put down his backpack and stood there.

"Put you guns on the ground!" the man yelled, waving his Japanese sword for emphasis.

He calmly placed his guns on the floor and stared at the thug.

"Your axe to!" the man said as he stepped closer.

Jack took out his tomahawk, but instead of surrendering his most prized possession, he charged forward and chopped for the man's throat.

The thug was able to block the attack with his katana and he kicked the black armored tribal away.

"You shouldn't have fucked with me, kid. Katanas are the best melee weapons out there!" the man gloated as he adopted a combat stance.

Jack actually rolled his eyes at this behind his lens and twirled his cold steel tomahawk.

The thief ran forward with the intent to kill, but Jack used the underside of the tomahawk blade to deflect the katana's blade. The sword swerved in an upward arc and he punched the thug in the stomach with his left hand.

The man grunted in pain and took a few steps back. Jack took advantage of the man's weakened state and performed an overhead chop. The tomahawk's blade embodied itself in the man's left shoulder.

The man screamed in agony as he fell to his knees. He dropped his katana and looked up at his opponent in horror.

Jack pulled the tomahawk out of the man's shoulder, hearing the man yell again in pain, and turned the tomahawk so that the spike end was facing the man.

He raised the weapon over his head and brought it down with all his might. The force of the spike's descent was enough to cause the man's skull to cave in on itself and all, but burst on the spot.

Gore covered the entire area and Jack. He wiped the blood away from his lens and sheathed his tomahawk. He put away his pistol and submachine gun as well before he picked up his backpack.

Jack scooped up the man's katana and strapped it to his belt, wanting to trade it for more supplies at the market district. He unsheathed his tomahawk and twirled it as he walked away from the gory scene.

* * *

"Tamhigan! Are you all right?" Bedagi asked loudly.

The former human's eyes shot open and he looked around at everyone's worried expressions. The chicken was set at the table and Cynder was standing over him with her forepaws on his shoulders.

He looked down at his own paws and saw that he had been digging into his hind legs while experiencing the flashback. He watched as some blood dripped off his claws.

"What happened? Talk to me, Tamhigan." Cynder said sternly.

He looked straight into her green eyes with his dark brown orbs.

"Flashback…" he muttered quietly with his deep voice.

"What did you see?" Cynder asked gently, honestly surprised that he even responded.

"My world…" he said ever so quietly.

To everyone's surprise, Cynder held Tamhigan in a comforting embrace and rocked him comfortably.

"It's okay… your with dragons who care about you." she comforted.

'She speaks the truth.' Tamhigan heard the words of his father in his head.

Cynder finally released the young dragon and looked down at him.

"Are you going to be okay now?" she asked with the softest voice he's ever heard in his life.

Tamhigan nodded with a straight face. Everyone just sat there in silence as Cynder bandaged his wounds. Once she finished, her mate cleared his throat.

"Let's go eat now." Spyro suggested.

Everyone got up and took a seat at the table. Many things were on Tamhigan's mind, but he knew one thing. He would not let anything harm these dragons no matter what. Even though he didn't show it, he cared about them. He's never felt this way towards anyone else, but he knew his empty heart was in the right place for once.

* * *

Frysa is walking down an empty hallway right now. Most of the other students are having dinner at the moment so she is alone in the hall.

Jävel asked her to come to his dorm tonight. She knew what it was about and she wasn't too thrilled to be going to the poison dragon's room.

'I was just being nice to the new guy. I hope Jävel will understand." she thought as she approached his door and knocked.

She heard the tapping of feet and the door opened. Jävel frowned at the sight of her and stepped aside.

"Come in." he ordered.

Frysa tilted her head down and entered her mate's room. He gently shut the door behind her and dragged a seating pillow in front of his bed.

"Sit down." he told her.

The ice dragoness obediently sat on the seating pillow and the poison dragon sat on his bed.

"What did you say to the new guy?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't say anything to him. I just opened the door for him and his brother." Frysa said weakly.

"I heard you talking to them. What did you say?" Jävel demanded, but still kept his tone low.

"His brother thanked me for opening the door for them and I told them it was no problem." the ice dragoness said with a cracked voice.

Her mate leaned forward and looked into her aqua colored eyes.

"I need you to prove your loyalty towards me." the poison dragon said seriously.

"Hu… how?" she asked with a whimper.

Jävel grinned and leaned back.

"Turn around; lay down on your stomach." he ordered her.

Frysa did as instructed and got comfortable. The poison dragon stood up and walked to his closet. He grabbed a small pillow with his jaws and walked back to his mate. He lifted her bottom region and placed the pillow under her belly.

Once he set her down again, her lower half was awkwardly sticking up into the air. He moved behind her and moved her tail out of the way. She yelped quietly when she felt the cold air hit her labia.

"You've been a naughty hatchling. I'm gonna have to teach you a lesson." Jävel said as he gently rubbed her rear.

She gasped when she felt his member poke her tail hole.

"You will take it in your asshole without lube. You are also not allowed to cum. If you do, then you'll sleep sitting down with your clit on the sawhorse tonight." the poison dragon growled as he forced his way into her.

"Remember how much you cried the last time you had that punishment?" he asked her as he pulled out a gain, only to thrust back in with more force.

'Just let it happen quickly!' Frysa thought with tears in her eyes as his member painfully entered her tail hole without mercy.

* * *

It is late in the night. After Spyro's family and the two brothers ate there meal, they spent most of the night talking to each other and discussing their day today. Tamhigan didn't have any other flashbacks to his relief and had a relatively good time.

Once it was time to go home, the family said goodbye to the brothers and they left. They walked down the stairs and to their apartment door.

Tamhigan opened the door and he and his brother entered together. They saw that the candles were lit, but there mother was nowhere in sight. Bedagi found a note on the coffee table and picked it up.

"Turned in early tonight. I love you boys. Mom." he read to his brother.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm pretty beat. I'll see you in the morning." Bedagi said as he gave his brother a quick hug and retreated into his room.

Tamhigan nodded and entered his own room. He closed the door behind him and placed his belongings on the desk. He sat down on his bed and looked at his tomahawk tail blade. He always felt better when he thought about his Native American ancestry and it's saved both his life and his sanity on multiple occasions.

He frowned however when he thought about what happened to his homeland. How the immigrants from Europe took over his land, disrespected there sacred lands at places like Mt. Rushmore and burial grounds being turned into garbage dumps. And the final insult, destroying all of their proud land with their atomic fire.

He sighed tiredly, not wanting to think of these depressing thoughts. He crawled into bed and pulled the blanket over his sleepy form. He slowly closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into the land of sleep.

* * *

Jack opened his eyes to see the bright sky through his gas mask lens. He heard the sound of drums playing and many people sing some kind of song. He slowly stood up and looked around the forest area in front of him, half expecting his father to speak to him.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see a village of Native Americans and a woman wearing a deerskin dress. She walked up to Jack with a friendly smile.

"Kwei kwei, Tamhigan." the dark skinned woman greeted.

Jack didn't say anything. He couldn't even if he wanted to. He's only familiar with two of his native language's words, tamhigan which translates to tomahawk, and bedagi, which translates to thunder.

"Nigawes Ta." the tribal woman introduced as she pointed to herself.

Jack nodded in understanding.

Nigawes Ta motioned for him to follow and walked to the fire were the other villagers were performing a ghost dance. Jack wordlessly followed the beautiful woman.

Once they were close to the dancing circle, Nigawes Ta turned around and pointed to his cold steel tomahawk, then the wood and stone tomahawks the others are carrying. Jack took out the desired weapon as the woman nodded with a warm smile.

She took his hand and joined the tribals in there dance. Jack felt a little uncomfortable at first, but he gradually moved like the others.

With each step he stomped on the ground twice before moving forward. He waved his tomahawk in the air just like the others in the dance and proceeded to bob his head with the beat of the drums and notes of the flutes.

Isaac and Dylan Bedage are standing in the sidelines, watching Jack dance one of their most sacred dances in their culture.

"This is good for him. He needs something to take his mind off his troubles." Isaac said with his arms crossed.

"Yeah. I've missed those dances from the reservation…" Dylan said as he held his own tomahawk, admiring the wooden handle and the stone blade.

"You want to join them don't you?" Isaac stated rather than asked.

"What me? No wa… yes." the World War II soldier admitted.

The hooded man smiled and formed light blue electricity in his right hand, shaping it into a tomahawk.

"Then let's go!" Isaac yelled as he pushed his grandfather into the ghost dance with the others.

Jack, Isaac, Dylan, and Nigawes Ta danced around the fire with their fellow tribals, each singing along with the spiritual chant. Even Jack found himself singing along with everyone although he was much quieter than everyone and barely audible.

"Aaaaaeeeeeaaa! Waaaeeeaaaoooaa! Yeeaaaaaooooaaa oaaaooowaaa!" they all sang in unison as the fire burned in the center of the dance.


	7. Suffering in Justice

**This chapter contains sexual situations and highly disturbing scenes. If you are under the age of sixteen, then why in all that is fuck are you even reading this story? And now the story… continues…**

Chapter 7: Suffering in Justice

Tamhigan slowly opened his eyes to see the sunlight shining through his window. It amazed him every time he looked at none artificial light and not worry about getting radiation poisoning. He's seen way too much of that in his life time.

His mind began to wonder back to that poison dragon and the ice dragoness. He knew that they were mates, but she didn't seem to like being around him at all.

He just shrugged it off, not really caring about them, and stood up. He walked up to his desk and put on his sling. He clipped his gas mask on his sling and shouldered his school bag. He walked to his door and opened it just as Bedagi was about to knock.

"Oh… you're awake. Breakfast is ready." his brother smiled.

Tamhigan walked out of his room, shut the door, and followed his brother to their seating pillows. Umbra smiled at him when he sat down next to his brother.

"Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes…" Tamhigan said very quietly with his deep voice.

Umbra's smile widened, feeling overjoyed that he finally spoke in her presence.

"That's wonderful to hear." she said as she gave him a plate of pancakes.

Tamhigan nodded in gratitude and began eating the unfamiliar food.

Umbra and Bedagi started talking about their dinner last night at Spyro's apartment. He decided to leave out the part about his brother's flashback and him hurting himself.

They finished breakfast and left for school. Like yesterday, Umbra walked in a different direction and the two brothers entered the building.

They walked in the crowded hall toward their first class of the day. Bedagi is quietly humming to himself, but his brother is fighting tooth and nail to not loose himself from the big crowd. His agoraphobia was defiantly taking its toll, but he calmed down once they approached the desired classroom.

They both entered the writing room to see a fire dragon look up from his paperwork. The fire dragon smiled as the two brothers approached him.

"Hello you two. How are you this morning?" their teacher asked nicely.

"Hey Flame, we're good. Is there an empty seats for Tamhigan?" Bedagi answered and asked.

'There is an empty seat at the front row corner, to my left." Flame answered.

The two brothers nodded and sat in their seats. Bedagi sat in the third row between Inferno and Bellator while Tamhigan sat in the corner next to an empty desk. He was beginning to wonder who sat there until he heard the door open and looked at the doorway.

Frysa limped into the room with bloodshot eyes and bags under them. It looks like she hasn't slept all night. She limped to the seat next to Tamhigan and sorely sat down. He could tell she's been crying a lot recently. He looked at her wrists and feet and saw that they had red rashes around them, as if she's been restrained.

He looked at her with his emotionless gaze. She turned away from him, but still felt his dark brown orbs burning into her injured form. She couldn't even imagine how intense his gaze would've been if he chose to wear his gas mask.

No one else seemed to notice her distress as Flame stood up to address the class.

"Hello everyone. I would like you all to write a four paragraph essay on the seasons. You will write one paragraph per season. If you don't finish in class, then it will be homework." Flame explained as everyone took out some writing paper.

Tamhigan was very confused. He didn't have the slightest idea what a paragraph is or what seasons are exactly. He decided to just write about nuclear winters and how deadly they can be if you're not properly prepared for them.

Flame was walking around the room and checking if everyone was working. He stopped when he looked at Tamhigan's paper. Instead of having four paragraphs, he just had a cluster of messy sentences. He leaned down so only the former human could hear him.

"A paragraph is a group of sentences that focus on a single idea." he whispered to his struggling student.

Tamhigan nodded in understanding and took out a new sheet of paper to rewrite his work, but with paragraphs this time.

Flame smiled in approval and walked to his desk to sit down. As Tamhigan was writing, his mind began to wonder to darker places.

* * *

Jack is walking down a snow covered road. There is not a soul in sight and the area is dead quiet.

He traveled to the surface because he heard a rumor that the KKK have been scavenging in the local area. He thought it would be a good idea to steal some of their supplies for himself because he's running low on food.

He turned left at the street corner and saw a group of six Klan soldiers looking through a drug store up ahead. They smashed the window open and were looking through the store.

He crouched down on one knee and brought his ARX 160 assault rifle up to take aim. He relaxed his muscles and looked down the red dot sight attachment above the barrel. He switched the safety off and gently rested his index finger over the trigger.

He remembered the soldier who rescued him as an infant and what he taught him before he died from cancer.

"Squeeze the trigger. Don't ever pull."

Jack slowly curled his finger until the gun activated. He shot and killed two soldiers with a burst of automatic fire. The other soldiers screamed and ran into cover behind the broken window.

He noticed the snow falling more rapidly and lightning struck in the distance, but he was too focused on the gunfight to care about the weather. He heard one of the soldiers scream in pain as a Feral tore the man's hand off and spat it on the ground.

More of the dog monsters came out of nowhere and attacked the KKK members. Jack heard barks behind him and whipped around. A Feral leapt into the air to try to bite into his neck, but it was shot down by a burst of automatic fire from Jack's remaining clip.

He took the empty magazine out, placed it in his back pocket, and replaced it with a new one. Once he was reloaded, he peeked out of cover to see what was happening. He saw that the mutants were able to kill the remaining soldiers and they didn't know he was there. The lightning must have been louder than his gunshots. The snow was red with blood from the human bodies.

While the other Ferals were distracted with their kills, Jack ran up to one of the soldier's bags and put it on. He then sprinted away from the bloody scene into the snowy fog.

* * *

Tamhigan shook his head as the flashback ended. He looked down at his paper and saw that he wrote his near death experience instead of an essay about the seasons. He rested a paw on his sweaty forehead to try to calm down.

The bell rang and everyone who was finished gave Flame there papers. Tamhigan shook his head clear and gave his teacher the essay. Flame smiled and placed the paper in the pile with the others. His brother and two friends did the same and joined him in the hallway.

"So you all finished the essay?" Bellator asked.

"Looks like it. Dad comes up with the weirdest things to write about sometimes." Inferno chuckled.

Tamhigan was starting to regret passing in his paper. He had no idea how his friend's father would react to his post-apocalyptic world.

Bellator walked to another class as the remaining three dragons walked to the history room.

"This is where mom teaches." Bedagi told his brother as they entered.

Umbra smiled as they entered her room. Bedagi and Bellator took their regular seats as Tamhigan walked up to his mother.

"Hello, Tamhigan. Your seat is between your brother and Jävel." she told him.

The black dragon nodded and took his seat. He knew that the poison dragon next to him had something to do with Frysa's state, but he didn't know how everyone would react if he killed him on the spot like he usually does with rapists. He settled for just waiting for now.

Tamhigan just leaned back in his seat and paid attention to the lecture.

* * *

Everyone in the writing class is doing the assignment the last class did. While everyone was writing, Flame decided to correct some of the papers. He just finished reading Tamhigan's and he felt sick to his stomach.

The handwriting was sloppy and hard to read, but the amount of detail was astounding. Flame just sat there in silence, digesting the snowy horror his student went through.

'No wonder the kid's so quiet, he had to go through stuff like that on a daily basis!' he thought to himself.

He decided to bring this to the Guardians attention later and put the essay in a folder for safekeeping.

'What else could you have gone through?' Flame thought with a sad expression as he watched the class write.

* * *

Frysa was having trouble paying attention in history class. She kept thinking about last night and what Jävel did to her.

She ended up having to spend the whole night sitting on the sawhorse without rest. Every time her eyes started to droop from exhaustion, the poison dragon would hit her rear or face with the blunt end of his tail blade. She was amazed that he wasn't tired himself.

That wasn't even the worst thing he's done to her either. He's made her do disgusting and embarrassing things for his sexual pleasure. She shivered at some of the things she did for him.

She looked around the room to try to get her mind of the extremely painful experiences and she found her gaze settle on Tamhigan.

She has absolutely no clue what to think about him. One part of her sees him as a good person, but the other part of her is scared of him and his capabilities. His scarred body and deathly gas mask scared her to the very being. She couldn't tell what he was thinking through those dark brown eyes of his as well.

Frysa shuttered at the possible damage he could do to someone with that axe like tail blade and those serrated horns of his. She was also terrified by the way he looked at her this morning. She knew that he somehow knew what happened to her and she didn't know what he was planning to do. She prayed to the ancestors that he wouldn't be like Jävel.

She saw her mate glaring at her for staring at Tamhigan and she quickly looked away.

'I hate how he controls my life, but what can I do to stop him? Nothing…' she thought with a sad frown.

* * *

The bell rang and everyone stood up. Tamhigan, Bedagi, and Inferno left the history room and headed for the cafeteria.

"Well we only have one class left, flight training." Bedagi told his brother as they entered the food court and got in line.

They said hello to Ember and got there lunch. The group of three joined their friends at their usual table.

"So how have you guys been?" Amare asked as she took a bite from rabbit meat.

"Pretty good. You?" Forma answered and asked.

Tamhigan wasn't listening to the conversation. He watched as Jävel led Frysa out into the hallway. He frowned and stood up to follow them.

"Where are you going?" Bellator asked curiously.

"Bathroom…" he said quietly as he quickly walked away.

His friends simply shrugged and continued eating.

Once Tamhigan was in the hallway, he unclipped his gas mask and put it on, hearing the satisfying sound of his own breathing. He spotted the two dragons turn a corner and followed at a distance, making sure he was out of earshot so they couldn't hear his breathing.

* * *

Frysa followed her mate down the hall. She just knew she was going to be punished for staring at Tamhigan. She is still very sore from last night so she was hoping he'd be merciful, but she knew he wouldn't.

Jävel led her down the empty hallway and into his room. He shut the door behind her and locked it. She flinched at the sound of the click and looked at the poison dragon fearfully.

"Are… are you going to hurt me?" she asked with a cracked voice.

"No talking." Jävel ordered as he walked to his bed and sat down with a frown.

"Get on your knees." he ordered coldly.

Frysa whimpered and kneeled in front of him. He spread open his hind legs and pushed her snout right into his crotch.

"You're gonna suck me until I cum down your damn throat. After that, you'll get fifty lashes in your ass. Then you'll suck me again." he told her with distain in his green eyes.

The ice dragoness nodded with a sob and got to work. She took in his whole member and started sucking. He moaned as her tongue rubbed his shaft's underside. She hated herself for doing this, but she had no choice.

All of a sudden there was a loud crash and the door flew open. Tamhigan stood there staring at them through his gas mask, his breathing scaring her to the very core.

"Get out of here now!" Jävel yelled angrily.

The poison dragon saw Frysa start to get off so he pushed her face into his crotch, forcing his penis down her throat. She gagged loudly as his member was lodged deep into her mouth. Tears and snot streamed down her face as she choked.

Tamhigan started to tremble with rage and took a few steps forward.

"I SAID GET OUT!" Jävel screamed at him, still holding the dragoness down.

Tamhigan didn't listen. He grabbed the poison dragon's shoulders and threw him against the wall. Frysa fell to the ground and inhaled a breath full of fresh air. She watched as the trembling black dragon slowly approached her mate.

Jävel was about to shoot a glob of poison at him, but Tamhigan quickly punched him in the face, breaking his jaw.

The black dragon slowly raised his tomahawk tail blade and looked at the squirming rapist with hatred behind his tinted lens. Jävel looked up into the gas mask's angry gaze. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared of what he would do to him.

Before he or Frysa could react, Tamhigan quickly brought his tail blade down. The poison dragon screamed loudly as the tomahawk blade chopped into his shoulder with a loud cracking noise.

Tamhigan painfully tore out the blade and raised it again.

"I'M SORRY!" Jävel screamed in fear.

The enraged gas mask dragon didn't listen. He brought his deadly tail blade down again with even more force, and again and again. He chopped repeatedly into the helpless poison dragon. Blood covered the wall, the bed sheets, and the two males. Some of the blood even splattered on the ice dragoness.

Frysa saw Tenebris and Terrador run into the room with horrified expressions.

"Get off him, now!" Terrador boomed as he and the Shadow Guardian pulled Tamhigan away from the poison dragon.

Tenebris held him in place on the ground as Terrador checked Jävel.

"By the ancestors… he's gone…" he informed everyone as the poison dragon's lifeless eyes stared up at him.

The Earth Guardian closed the corpse's eyes and turned to Frysa.

"What happened?" he asked with a serious expression.

The ice dragoness didn't answer. She just sat there and cried loudly on the spot.

* * *

(In Tamhigan's point of view)

Tamhigan followed the two dragons until they entered one of the dorm rooms. He stealthily walked up to the room and brought an ear hole to the door. He heard moaning on the other end and his eyes widened behind his gas mask.

He breathed in a faster pace as the area around him transformed into an industrial hallway with flickering lights. He noticed that he was also back in his human form and he was holding his cold steel tomahawk.

He took a step back and smashed into the splintered and weathered door. There was a loud crash as he burst his way into the dark industrial room, and what he saw made him sick.

He saw a dirty blonde haired woman wearing a skimpy dress. The woman is standing over a little boy. She is holding a dildo in her hand and smiling wickedly at the young child.

Jack held his tomahawk in a death grip as he approached the woman. She whipped around and stared at him with an angry expression.

Her face began to split apart and open up like a fleshy flower of skin and gore. Her muscles and eyes melted away and her teeth reshaped into needle like teeth. The monster screamed at him with what sounded like a mixture between a demonic shriek and gurgling.

Jack was scarred of the creature, but he'd be damned if he let it have its way with the child he was familiar with… not this time.

He grabbed the monster by the shoulder and threw it against a metal pipe to his right. The creature hit the industrial air duct with a screech. Jack cautiously approached the downed monstrosity.

It reeled its head up and attempted to bite him, but he punched the thing in its blood stained skull, cracking its jaw.

While the monster was recovering, Jack slowly raised his tomahawk over his head and brought it down. The monster squealed in pain as the weapon dug into its shoulder blade. He twisted it out and raised it again.

"DDDDIIIIIEEEEEE!" the monster screeched its demonic shout.

Jack quickly chopped at the monster again, and repeated this action over and over again. he allowed his animal instincts to kick in, anything to save the child from the horrors of the moster before them.

He felt muscular hand grab him and pull him away from the creature's corpse. There was a white flash and he saw Tenebris pinning him to the ground. He was trying to figure out what just happened to him when he heard Terrador's voice.

"By the ancestors… he's gone…" the Earth Guardian said in horror.

Tamhigan tried to regain his focus, but he passed out in the Shadow Guardian's grip.


	8. Rise of Hate

**As you all probably know by now, I've written a lot of fucked up things in this story. That will continue in this chapter and many other chapters. I'm not gonna lie to you readers, this chapter was depressing to write. I suggest you listen to sad music as you read this one.**

Chapter 8: Rise of Hate

Tamhigan is sitting on a seating pillow in the Pool of Visions room. He is surrounded by the eight Guardians, all the teachers, his friends, Frysa, and Jävel's parents. Tavilla and Vex have been comforting the ice dragoness for a half hour now and Tamhigan has refused to say a word since he woke up. He's simply sitting there and holding his gas mask in his forepaws, tapping the lens uneasily with soft clicks.

"That monster should be hung for what he did to my baby!" Jävel's mother yelled in anger.

"We will do no such thing until we at least get the full story first." Terrador said calmly.

"I know my son… he wouldn't do something like this without a reason." Umbra sobbed while holding Bedagi close to herself.

Jävel's mother looked at Tamhigan with disgust.

"I would like to bring something up!" Flame spoke loudly before an argument could arise.

Everyone gave the writing teacher there full attention. He stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Earlier today I assigned an essay on the seasons to my class. Almost everyone turned in this assignment at the end of class… including Tamhigan." he informed everyone as he took out his student's essay.

"What does his essay have to do with anything?" Jävel's father scoffed.

"Will you please be patient!?" Venenum snapped.

Jävel's father huffed, but didn't speak a word.

Flame walked up to Terrador and handed it to him. The Earth Guardian slowly read the paper, his frown deepening with every paragraph.

"Vex… could you come here for a moment?" Terrador asked once he finished reading.

The Fear Guardian stepped away from Frysa and walked up to the green dragon. He gave her the essay and she read it to herself. Everyone was dead silent as she read the paper; they would probably be able to hear a pin drop because of the silence.

Finally, Vex gave Terrador the paper and walked up to Tamhigan.

"Tamhigan… I need you to stay still and look into my eyes." the Fear Guardian said seriously.

The former human slowly, but hesitantly, looked up into her eyes. Vex's eyes began to glow a crimson red. They both stayed like that for what seemed like hours, staring into each other's eyes.

After a painfully long wait, Vex's eyes returned to normal and she lowered her head. She turned to face everyone and slowly looked up.

"I know why he killed Jävel." she said with a cracked voice, obviously unnerved about something.

"Well why did he do it?" Jävel's father asked impatiently.

"He… was having … a psychosis. Everything he was seeing was a hallucination. I saw what he saw during his attack and… I will spare you the horrors of what I saw." the fear dragoness informed them with a shaky voice.

'What could've been so bad to unnerve the Fear Guardian herself?' Forma thought as she looked at her accused friend pitifully.

"So he's insane, another reason to lock him away." Jävel's mother spat.

Vex frowned angrily and marched up to the poison dragoness.

"You will be respectful to this dragon! He's experienced more pain than you'd ever feel in ten lifetimes!" Vex yelled angrily, surprising everyone.

Jävel's parents stood there in shock as the Fear Guardian panted from her episode. Once Vex calmed down enough, she returned to the center of the room next to Tamhigan.

"He is suffering from depression, dementia, aquaphobia, agoraphobia, and extreme paranoia. He was not under the right state of mind when he attacked Jävel and therefore he should not be punished." Vex spoke with a frown, feeling sorry for the young dragon.

"What do you suggest we do?" Electra asked as she stood closer to Pelko for emotional support.

"I suggest he spends at least half an hour with me every day after class for therapy. He needs someone he can talk to." the Fear Guardian told them all.

"What did he go through to get him in this state of mind I the first place?" Tumma asked from the back of the room.

"I don't really know. His essay only said so much and I only saw his hallucination." Vex answered with her head down.

Tamhigan raised his head and looked at the Pool of Visions. Terrador took the hint and faced the victim's parents.

"You two need to leave now. We will arrange for your son's funeral." the Earth Guardian said in a serious tone.

The two parents wanted to argue, but stopped when they saw all the adults glaring at them. The two poison dragons both stood up and silently left the room.

Once they left, Venenum grabbed one of the seating pillows and dragged it next to the Pool. Tamhigan put on his gas mask and layed down on his back, his horns just barely touching the water.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Umbra asked gently.

"No…" her son said honestly before closing his eyes and letting the memory surface.

Everyone looked into the Pool to see what the young dragon wanted to show them. The water began to fog up as the memory formed.

* * *

There is a dark hallway with flickering lights. In the hallway are rats and cockroaches running around on the floor without much care in what is happening around them. At the very end of the hallway is a young child who is no more than seven years old.

The child has tan skin and a skinny body. Both his eyes and hair are very dark brown. His hair is about ear length. He is wearing ripped jeans, a dirty blue t-shirt, and dusty white sneakers. This boy is Jack Bedage as a young child.

The boy is sitting alone and holding his legs against his chest. He heard footsteps and looked up as a woman walked up to him. She kneeled down in front of him with a small smile.

The woman is wearing a red dress with black high heels. She has pale skin with an attractive body. She has dirty blond hair and hazel eyes.

"Hello there. My name is Maria. What's yours?" Maria asked sweetly.

"J… Jack." the boy said, feeling better that he wasn't alone anymore.

"Jack… that's a nice name. It's a little lonely here don't you think?" the woman asked gently.

"Yeah… it's very lonely here." Jack replied quietly.

"Is there anyone who can take care of you?" the woman asked softly.

Jack shook his head with a tear in his eye.

"Want to come home with me?" Maria asked while slowly holding out her hand.

Jack hesitated for a moment, but he nodded and held her hand.

The scene started to go fuzzy for a moment, but it refocused in a different area. Now they are both in a bedroom. Their clothes are messily lying on the floor. The young boy and the woman are on the queen sized bed.

Jack is completely naked, his face showing both fear and confusion. Maria is on her knees and looking down at him with a dark grin. On her lower region is an extra large strap-on-dildo.

"We're going to play a game now, Jack." Maria cooed as she held the young Jack still and leaned closely to him.

"The rules are simple. You stay still and squeal like the little piglet you are while I fuck your brains out." The woman whispered in the terrified boy's ear.

The scene phased out again, but Jack's young screams could easily be heard. He yelled with all his young might, begging for her to stop and to make the pain go away. Once the screaming and crying finally stopped, the scene refocused.

A much older Jack is walking down a dark hallway in his usual attire. His calm breathing could easily be heard through his gas mask as he approached a wooden door. He knocked three times and waited patiently. A middle aged Maria slowly opened the door and looked at Jack with a small smile.

"Yes? May I help you?" she asked, not recognizing Jack because of the mask.

He quickly pushed her back into her home and stormed in. He slammed the door behind him and locked it. Maria was about to get up, but Jack aimed his Ruger SR9 pistol at her. A red dot could easily be seen on her forehead.

"What the fuck do you want from me? Money, a good time?" Maria asked angrily, but switched her tone to seductively at the end of her sentence.

Jack quickly aimed at her left leg and squeezed the trigger. The woman screamed in pain as she held her injured leg. He aimed for her other leg and shot her again.

"WHO ARE YOU!" she screamed in pain and rage.

Jack grabbed his helmet and threw it at her head with all his might, knocking her on her back. He then took off his gas mask and dropped it on the ground.

"You… I thought I killed you…" Maria said in fear.

Jack's face looks a lot like his father's, but his face is slightly skinnier and his cheek bones are easily noticeable. His hair is slightly longer than ear length and he has a five o'clock shadow. Unlike his present look, the diagonal scar on his face looks fresh.

Jack quickly replaced his pistol for his ARX 160 assault rifle and slowly approached her.

"WAIT! IT DOESN'T' HAVE TO BE THIS WAY! IT'S NOT WORTH IT! IT'S NOT…"

Jack squeezed the trigger and unloaded the entire clip into the woman who ruined his life forever. Her organs and brain matter splattered all over the small room and on him. Even when she was dead and his clip was empty, he still held the trigger down. The gun clicked repeatedly as he stood there, looking at the corpse with hatred.

He finally released the trigger and lowered the rifle. His hands are shaking with hate and pain.

Jack shouldered his rifle and grabbed his headgear. He placed them next to the door and pulled out a small gasoline container. He walked around the house and poured it everywhere he went.

When he finally reached the bedroom, he stopped pouring and searched the drawers. The enraged man found the strap-on-dildo that the witch used on him all those years ago. He remembered the horrible feeling the dildo gave him when it was inside of him and forced down his young throat.

He looked deeper into the wardrobe and found multiple pairs of children's underwear. His hands began to tremble again as he held a little girl's panties.

Jack tossed his findings on the bed and poured the rest of the gasoline on the dildo and children's underwear. Once the gasoline container was empty, he tossed it to the side and exited the room. He put on his gas mask and helmet, and took out a match.

Jack unlocked the door and lit the match on the side of the wall. He opened the door, stepped out, and threw the match over his shoulder. The underground apartment burned as he walked away without looking back.

The scene began to lose focus for the last time and the memory ended.

* * *

Tamhigan slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He took off his gas mask and looked around the room. Over half the people in the room have tears in their eyes and Bellator even threw up sometime during the memory.

"MY BABY!" Umbra cried as she ran up to her son and hugged him tightly.

She held him close and rocked him slowly. She cried heavily as she held him. Bedagi ran up to them and joined their hug with tears in his eyes. Everyone was too shocked and disgusted to say anything.

"I think I'm gonna be sick too." Petram said as she ran up to the waste basket and emptied her stomach's contents.

Umbra and Bedagi eventually released Tamhigan, but they made sure to stay close to him. Everyone silently stood there. No one made a sound for a long time. After a long wait, Terrador turned to face Frysa.

"Can you give us your account on what happened?" he asked, trying to change the depressing subject.

"J… Jävel wanted me to come to his room for lunch." Frysa said quietly, still feeling sick to her stomach from the memory she witnessed.

"We found evidence of mating. Is that what you where planning to do?" the Earth Guardian asked surprisingly gently.

The ice dragoness didn't answer; she just looked at the ground in shame.

"He raped her." Tamhigan said quietly, speaking for the first time since he woke up.

"Is this true?" Terrador asked.

"…yes." Frysa sobbed.

Vex and Tavilla held the crying ice dragoness closer for comfort. The only thing that could be heard was Frysa's quiet sobs. Everyone wanted someone to break the unnerving silence, but no one wanted to be the one to do it.

Finally, Spyro cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention.

"So Tamhigan will be in therapy every day after class, but what about Frysa?" the purple dragon asked.

"Do you have anyone to take care of you?" Ember asked the ice dragoness.

"No… I was orphaned as a hatchling. Jävel and his parents took me in a few years before we came to the Temple." Frysa said once she was calm enough to speak again.

'Jävel must have forced her to mate with him for letting her stay at their home.' Terrador thought to himself.

"I can take care of her." Umbra volunteered.

"Are you sure you wish to care for three dragons?" Cyril asked.

"Yes… it would be nice to have another girl in the house. Plus I couldn't live with myself if any dragon needed help and I didn't offer to help them." she said confidently, holding Tamhigan closer to her.

Terrador turned to face Frysa again.

"Do you want Umbra to take care of you?" he asked the ice dragoness.

She hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded.

"Then it's settled. Tamhigan will have regular therapy sessions with Vex and Umbra will care for Frysa. Dismissed!" Terrador declared.

Everyone left the Pool of Visions room to get some dinner. Umbra, Bedagi, Tamhigan, and Frysa walked together to their apartment. No matter how much they tried not to, they kept thinking about the memory the former human showed them.

They finally made it to their apartment and Umbra opened the door for them. Frysa was amazed at the quality of the apartment as she and the two boys walked into the living room.

"I'll go make supper." Umbra said as she shut the door and left for the kitchen.

The three dragons sat on the seating pillows in silence. Tamhigan lit small sparks of dark blue electricity in his paws and watched as it danced between his talons with interest.

"So Frysa… are you okay?" Bedagi asked, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah… I think I'm okay. Thanks for asking." the ice dragoness answered quietly.

"It's not problem at all." Bedagi gave a weak smile.

They all sat there in silence again, just watching Tamhigan's dark electricity dance in his paws. Frysa has mixed feelings for the dragon in front of her. She is scared of him, she's scared that he will have another mental psychosis and try to kill her. However, she also felt another feeling, one that was foreign to her and she couldn't explain it.

'Do I… have feelings for Tamhigan? Every time I look at him I feel something warm in my heart. Do I really… love him?" the ice dragoness thought to herself.

Her train of thought was interrupted however when Umbra came back with three trays of food.

"I made you all some spaghetti." The black dragoness smiled as she gave everyone a plate.

"Wow thanks mom." Bedagi thanked happily.

"Thank you." Frysa said quietly.

Tamhigan simply nodded in thanks as he flicked away the dark blue electricity.

Umbra went back into the kitchen, but quickly came out with her own plate. She sat down next to Tamhigan and they all began eating. Umbra explained to Frysa that Tamhigan is from a completely different world and that he came her because of a mysterious crystal. Frysa was amazed at this revelation, but it did make sense.

Umbra also explained where everything is in the apartment. Frysa smiled at her kindness, but she would sneak glances at the dragon who saved her. Tamhigan noticed her glances every time, but he didn't react to them in any way.

'I think I do love him, but how will I get him to notice me. I'm too shy to ask him out and he won't even utter a single word.' the ice dragoness thought as she ate the last of her dinner.

Tamhigan kept noticing her stares and glances. He didn't mind them, but he didn't have the slightest idea why she kept staring at him. He decided to just ignore her for now and kept eating.

Once they all finished dinner, Umbra collected their trays and got up to clean up.

"I can help you." Frysa said as she got up.

"It's alright dear, I got it." Umbra smiled as she went into the kitchen.

Bedagi yawned and stood up.

"Well I'm beat. I'm gonna go to sleep now, I'll see you two in the morning." he said as he gave his brother a quick hug and went into the kitchen to do the same with his mother.

After a short wait, he came back out and entered his room. Umbra walked out of the kitchen and with an orange blanket. She carefully placed it on one of their larger seating pillows and looked at Frysa.

"You will sleep here until I can get you a bed. Is that alright with you?" Umbra asked sweetly.

"Yes it's fine, thank you so much." Frysa said as she gave the older dragoness a thankful hug.

"Your quite welcome. Goodnight Frysa." Umbra said as she nuzzled her head.

"Goodnight Umbra." the ice dragoness said as they let go.

Frysa climbed into the makeshift bed and pulled the blanket over her. Umbra hugged her son, kissed him goodnight, and left for her room. Tamhigan simply nodded to the ice dragoness and began to walk away.

"Um… Tamhigan…?" Frysa spoke nervously.

The black dragon stopped immediately and looked over his shoulder.

"…thank you for saving me." the ice dragoness said after a short wait.

Tamhigan nodded again and went into the room. Frysa sighed once his door was shut and cuddled deeper into the comfortable pillow.

'Great, I lost my chance. I hope I'll get another chance to tell him how I feel.' Frysa thought to herself as she closed her aqua colored eyes.

Within moments, the ice dragoness fell asleep.


	9. Death to Fear!

**Got a new chapter for you all! This is where the plot will start to develop and the story will kick off. I've noticed that most of the flashbacks I've written recently have humans as the main enemies. Do you readers like this human vs human or do you want to see more monsters? Let me know in the reviews.**

Chapter 9: Death to Fear!

Frysa woke up to the sound of talking. She opened her eyes to see Bedagi and Umbra talking to each other about how they slept. She looked ahead of her and saw Tamhigan making shadow rings in the air with his talons.

"Good morning, Frysa. Did you sleep well?" Umbra asked when she realized the ice dragoness was awake.

"Good morning everyone. I had a good sleep." she responded as she sat up.

"That's good to hear. Volteer came by a little while ago. He and the other Guardians agreed to cancel classes today, so it looks like we have the day off today." the adult dragoness informed her as she gave her a plate of waffles.

"I think we all deserve a day off today." Bedagi said after he swallowed some of his food.

"Oh that reminds me. Tamhigan, Vex wishes to see you this afternoon." Umbra informed her son.

The former human nodded and started eating his breakfast, his shadow rings disappearing once he stopped adding energy to them.

"So how are you going to spend your day off?" Frysa asked Umbra.

"Correcting class work." the black dragoness sighed with a chuckle.

Frysa and Bedagi chuckled at her quick response. Tamhigan gave a half smile for about a millisecond.

"How are you three going to spend the day?" Umbra asked.

"Probably hang out with Bellator and the others." Bedagi answered with a smile.

"Can I come with you?" the ice dragoness asked hopefully.

"The more, the merrier!" the black dragon smiled happily.

They finished their breakfast and Umbra collected their plates. She took the dirty dishes into the kitchen to clean them.

"Well we should probably get going. We don't want to keep everyone waiting." Bedagi said as he stood up.

The other two dragons stood up as well and they all walked to the door.

"Bye mom, we're going out!" Bedagi shouted as he opened the door.

"Alright, have fun!" Umbra called back.

The three dragons exited the apartment and walked out of the building. They followed the dirt path until they reached the garden. They saw Bellator, Forma, Inferno, and Amare waiting for them.

"Hello Frysa. Are you going to be joining us?" Amare asked the ice dragoness with a friendly smile.

"I guess so." Frysa smiled shyly.

"Okay then. So I have a good idea." Bellator started.

"Not another one of your ideas. Remember the last time you had one of your 'great ideas'?" Forma asked as she rolled her eyes.

"This time will be different! And how was I supposed to know those grumblins didn't like cookies?" the dark purple dragon defended.

"It's common sense, Bellator." Inferno stated with a smirk.

"ANYWAY! I found a cool cave in the swamp a few days ago and I thought it'd be cool to look around." Bellator explained.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to explore a cave in the middle of the swamp? Who knows what could be in there." Forma tried to reason.

"It'll be fine. I even looked inside a little bit and nothing was in there." her brother assured.

"I still don't like it…" his sister said with a nervous expression.

"Hey Tamhigan, are you in?" Bellator asked quickly.

The former human unclipped his gas mask, put it on, and cracked his neck.

"See he's down!" Bellator encouraged.

"That's because he's a hardass! A little cave in the swamp will be a piece of cake for him!" Amare reasoned.

"All the more reason to go. C'mon guys, if anything get's too bad, we'll leave immediately." the dark purple dragon promised.

"Fine I'll go." his sister sighed.

"That's the spirit! How about the rest of you?" Bellator asked the rest of the group.

"You know what my dad says. 'When in doubt, fuck it.'" Amare quoted her father, Pelko.

"Sure I'll come along." Inferno nodded.

"If my brother is going, then so will I." Bedagi agreed.

"Okay I'll come." Frysa said.

"Alright! Everyone follow me!" Bellator cheered as he marched down one of the paths leading into the swamp.

'He's such a goofball sometimes. I'm surprised Tamhigan was the first to agree to go with him.' Forma thought to herself.

Unknown to the black dragoness, Tamhigan was thinking the exact same thing.

Everyone followed the excited dark purple dragon into the swamp. They made sure to stay on the path to avoid getting muddy and wet. After about half an hour of walking, they found the cave their friend was talking about.

"So that's the cave, huh?" Inferno asked as they walked to the cave's entrance.

"Yep! Just follow my lead." Bellator said as he and the group entered the cavity in the side of the large hill.

The cave is very dark. Stalactites and stalagmites are sticking out here and there, but they didn't cause any immediate threat. The group noticed that the cave went in a downward slope and it got darker the further they went. Tamhigan formed dark blue electricity between his horns, creating a blue areal light source.

"Thanks Tamhigan." Inferno said just when he caught himself before he stepped on a sharp rock.

Tamhigan nodded and moved to the front next to Bellator. They kept walking until they found something unexpected.

"Is that a door?" Forma asked.

The group stopped in front of a big rock door with a long vertical handle made of granite. Bellator tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn't budge.

"I don't think that's working." Bedagi said dully as he sat down.

"I can do it!" the dark purple dragon grunted as he tried desperately to get the door open.

Tamhigan walked up to the door and began to pull to the side instead of outward. Bellator took the hint and did the same. With their combined effort, the door slowly slid open.

"Wow, good thinking Tamhigan!" Amare praised.

The former human simply shrugged and the group continued forward. The door led them to a large room with an underground river running through the center of the room. There are stalactites over the river so they couldn't fly over it. There is a stone bridge that leads to a metal chest and a wall with glyphs carved into it. Frysa noticed some unlit torches all around the walls.

"There are torches on the walls." the ice dragoness informed the group.

Inferno spotted one of the torches and shot a fire ball at it. The torch began to burn and it lit a small part of the room. Bellator noticed another torch and did the same. Another part of the room got lighter.

The two fire breathers worked together until all the torches were lit and they could see perfectly. Tamhigan stopped the flow of energy and the electricity between his horns died out.

The group walked up to the bridge, but realized they'd have to go one at a time.

"Who wants to go first?" Bedagi asked the group.

"I guess I will." Bellator said as he stepped forward.

The dark purple dragon cautiously walked over the bridge, making sure it was safe for the others. Once he was on the other side, he looked at the others.

"It's safe!" he called out to them.

Inferno shrugged and walked over the bridge without any trouble. This pattern went on for awhile. Next was Forma, then Amore, followed by Bedagi, and then Frysa. Tamhigan was the last to cross, but he hesitated when he took his first step. He simply stared at the water below him.

"C'mon Tamhigan! It's safe to cross!" Bellator called from the other side.

Tamhigan didn't listen; he just stared at the fast moving water. He remembered something he wishes he could forget.

* * *

A fourteen year old Jack is walking down the market district. He's wearing dirty blue jeans, black sneakers, and a gray coat with the collar pulled up. He also doesn't have the diagonal scar over his face.

He calmly walked into one of the tents to trade some supplies, but he immediately noticed two Ku Klux Klan soldiers in the tent instead of the usual clerk.

"You must be Jack Bedage." the soldier with an angry white gas mask stated.

Jack turned around to leave, but a third soldier was blocking the exit. Two of the soldiers grabbed Jack and forced him into another part of the tent. There is a bathtub that is full of ice cold water in the center of the room. The two soldiers holding Jack forced him in the tub and held his head under the water.

"You know you'd probably be a good kid if you weren't an Indian. You also shouldn't have stolen from us you little brat." the soldier wearing the angry gas mask stated as he took out a combat knife.

While Jack was trying desperately to get free, the soldier with the knife leaned forward and began to carve into the teenager's face. The water turned red with blood as Jack screamed underwater.

"I'm gonna carve a swastika on your fucking face." the soldier promised as he finished cutting the first line.

Jack managed to get one of his legs free and he kicked the soldier in the crotch. The soldier yelped and dropped his knife in the water as he fell back.

While the others were distracted, Jack grabbed the knife and slashed one of the soldier's throats. The man fell to the ground in a gurgling fit as Jack rose out of the water and took in a lungful of air.

The other soldier who was holding him down took out a pistol, but Jack quickly rushed forward and forced the man to aim into the air. The gun fired repeatedly as they struggled, but the teenager eventually forced the man to shoot himself in the head.

The soldier with the angry gas mask finally recovered and took out a machete. The pistol was empty, so Jack simply threw it at the soldier with all his might. The soldier successfully dodged the attack, but Jack tackled him to the ground while he was distracted.

Before the soldier could retaliate, Jack used the combat knife to stab the man repeatedly in the chest and shoulders. The man cried out in pain with each stab, but Jack didn't stop until the man's heart stopped beating altogether.

Once the soldier was dead; Jack dropped the knife and sat down next to the corpse. While he was recovering his breath, he looked at the gas mask with interest. He reached forward and carefully took it off. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the white paint was starting to chip off, revealing the black mask underneath.

He spent the next hour or so scratching the white paint off until the mask was completely black again. Jack adjusted the straps and put it on and for the first time, he wore his signature gas mask.

* * *

Tamhigan has been standing there for over a minute now, not moving a muscle. His friends were starting to get worried.

"I don't get it. Why won't he cross?" Amare asked the group.

"Remember what Vex said? Tamhigan has aquaphobia. He's probably scared of the river." Forma recalled.

They all sat there in thought until Bellator came up with an idea.

"Hey Tamhigan! Look at me!" he yelled loudly.

The black dragon's head shot up and he stared at the group.

"That's right, just keep looking at us. Take one step at a time and keep looking at us!" the dark purple dragon called.

Tamhigan didn't like following orders, but he did as instructed. He moved slowly and didn't look down, focusing all his attention on the group. Finally, after much encouragement, he was on the other side of the river.

"You did it!" Bellator cheered.

"Good job, bro!" Bedagi praised.

"You did well." Frysa said shyly.

Tamhigan nodded in thanks as everyone was patting him on the back. He was just glad to be away from the water.

After a short rest, the group focused their attention on the glyphs on the wall and the metal chest.

"What should we look at first?" Inferno asked.

"We should probably check out that wall first. It could be important." Bellator said as he led the group to the glyphs.

"What does it say?" Amare asked as they approached the symbols.

"It doesn't look like it says anything. I think it's depicting a tale or story." Forma explained as she looked at the pictures more closely.

There are four parts of the wall. The first part on the left depicts two dragons. One is shooting blue-green lighting and the other is breathing blue fire at a large purple dragon.

"That must be about the first war against Malefor." Bellator thought aloud.

The second part of the wall has a single dragon with blue lightning fighting a wind dragoness and an ice dragon.

"And that's when dad saved mom when we were born." Bedagi said with wide eyes.

The third section depicts a dragon wearing a gas mask. It is fighting a big purple dragon on one side and a bunch of other monsters on the other.

"Is that… Tamhigan?" Frysa asked with wonder and amazement.

The last part of the wall has the same dragon with the gas mask, but he is alone in a graveyard. It also looks like the dragon is covered in blood and is surrounded by gore. Everyone shivered at the last picture and didn't comment.

"Let's check out this chest." Inferno suggested, wanting to get away from the wall.

The group nodded in agreement and approached the chest. Bellator and Inferno worked together to open it. It took a long time, but they finally managed to get the metal container open. Bellator reached into the chest and looked through it.

"Well? What is it?" Forma asked.

Bellator took out the item and showed everyone. It is a yellow crystal that is glowing a bright golden color.

"I don't believe it… it's a time crystal!" Bedagi said with his mouth wide open.

Tamhigan tilted his head in confusion.

"A time crystal is a piece or shard of the crystal that Spyro and Cynder used to hibernate for three years." Inferno explained.

"But how did it get here? It looks like no one's been here for decades or even centuries." Forma said with wide eyes.

"We should bring this to the Guardians. They will want to see it." Amare suggested.

"Plus we need to bring my brother to his therapy session." Bedagi added.

Everyone nodded and Bellator stuffed the time crystal into his pouch. They all crossed the bridge again; Tamhigan took the longest, and backtracked through the cave. They eventually exited the cave and walked back to the Temple.

"So do these shards have any special powers?" Frysa asked as they walked.

"Probably not, they're just very rare." Forma explained.

The group entered the Temple and faced each other.

"Okay, Tamhigan will go to Vex's room while the rest of us explain our findings." Bellator explained.

Tamhigan took off his gas mask and glared at him.

"Don't worry Tamhigan, we'll give you credit." the dark purple dragon quickly added.

"We better give him credit, he did half of the work." Forma said sternly.

The black dragon simply nodded and walked down another hallway. He kept walking until he reached a door that had a ruby colored dragon head etched into it. He knocked three times and waited.

"Come in!" he heard the Fear Guardian's voice.

"He opened the door and stepped inside, making sure to shut it behind him.

"Hello Tamhigan. Please have a seat." Vex said, gesturing to a long seating pillow.

The former human walked up to the pillow and layed down on his back.

"How are you today?" Vex asked as she took a seat next to him.

"Fine." he answered simply with his deep and experienced voice.

"That's good. Have you had any flashbacks today?" she asked him.

Tamhigan didn't answer; he just looked up at the ceiling.

"I'll take that as a yes." the Fear Guardian frowned.

"Can you explain it to me?" she asked after a small pause.

"Water… it had water." he said quietly.

Can you be more specific?" Vex asked, but got no response.

She rubbed her chin in thought, but looked over at her desk. She stood up and walked over to her desk to get some items. She grabbed some writing paper and a quill. Vex gave them to Tamhigan and sat back down.

"Let's try a different approach. Write what you saw." the fear dragoness encouraged.

Tamhigan hesitated, but eventually started writing the flashback.

* * *

The rest of the group approached the Pool of Visions room. They stopped at the door and looked at each other.

"If we get in trouble I'm blaming you." Forma told her brother with a serious expression.

Bellator just rolled his eyes and knocked on the door.

"Enter!" they heard Cyril's voice from the other side.

Bellator opened the door and the group walked in.

"Hello, what brings you all on this fine visit?" Volteer asked quickly with a smile.

"Well we were exploring again and…" Bellator started.

"What did you get yourselves into this time?" Tenebris sighed while face pawing.

"As hard as it is to believe, we actually found something interesting this time." Amare spoke up.

"And what did you find?" Ventus asked with interest.

Bellator reached into his pouch and took out the time crystal.

"Is that what I think it is!?" Venenum asked in disbelief.

Volteer walked up to the group and inspected the crystal.

"By the ancestors, it is in fact a time shard! Oh this is amazing; marvelous; excellent…" Volteer rambled.

Cyril quickly held his snout closed, but he still attempted to speak.

"How did you come across such a rare item as this?" Terrador questioned.

"We were exploring a cave outside the Temple and we found a metal chest and glyphs of some kind." Bellator explained.

"And what did these glyphs say exactly?" Terrador asked with a risen eyebrow.

Forma began to explain all the pictures they saw. Once she was finished, the Guardians looked at each other with concern.

"Um… is something wrong?" Inferno asked worriedly.

"We're not entirely sure, but there is no question about it. You all found a timeline." Tavilla told them all.

"That might explain why there was a time crystal there." Venenum thought aloud.

"But what concerns me is the last two pictures. They both clearly depict Tamhigan." Tenebris said.

"What's going to happen to my brother?" Bedagi asked worriedly.

"I have no idea, only the ancestors know the answer to that question." Terrador said with a frown.

Everyone looked at the time crystal, wondering what would happen to their traumatized friend.


	10. Neither Good nor Evil

**Here's the newest chapter for you readers. I apologize for not updating, but things happened and I couldn't find the time to post this chapter. Don't be sad if I don't I don't update a chapter every day (especially when school starts) I'm trying my best.**

Chapter 10: Neither Good nor Evil 

Vex is reading Tamhigan's paper on his flashback earlier today. He finished it about five minutes ago and he's patiently waiting for her to finish.

Tamhigan has mixed opinions on these therapy sessions. On one hand he thinks they might finally cure him of his flashbacks and suicidal thoughts, but he also thought that it could be a complete waste of time.

Vex put the paper down and sighed sadly.

"Why would those people do that to someone so young." she thought aloud.

"Because I'm not white skinned." her patient answered quietly.

"Those people mentioned a swastika. What is that exactly?" the Fear Guardian asked curiously.

Tamhigan took the paper back and drew the Nazi's version of a swastika. Once it was finished, he showed her.

"It's an evil symbol." he explained just above a whisper.

Vex took the paper and looked at the symbol closely. She couldn't explain why, but she felt a shiver run up her spine and had a feeling of dread.

"What does it mean?" she asked, partially not wanting to hear the answer.

"Death to non-whites." Tamhigan said emotionlessly.

Vex gave him a sympathetic look and rested a paw on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that." she said sadly.

Tamhigan didn't respond; he just looked up at ceiling.

Vex was about to say something, but her patient surprisingly interrupted her.

"Those monsters in my world are bad… but at least they don't turn on each other." Tamhigan whispered, still looking at the tiled ceiling.

Vex's frown deepened.

'Why did that damn crystal have to take him and Voltage away all those years ago? Maybe if things were different, he would be happy and full of life like his brother.' she thought to herself.

The Fear Guardian looked outside the window and noticed that the sun was setting.

"I think that's enough for today. You should go home and have supper." Vex told him.

Tamhigan nodded and stood up. They both walked to the door and Vex opened it for him.

"Make sure to get a good night's rest." she added as he stepped out of her room.

Tamhigan nodded to her and walked down the hall. He walked out of the building and to his apartment. The black dragon was actually surprised with himself; that was the most he spoke in over ten years.

He approached the apartment door and opened it. As he stepped inside, he noticed that his mom already had dinner ready.

"There you are. I was wondering when Vex would let you go." Umbra smiled at her son.

Tamhigan gave a millisecond long half smile and sat down next to his brother. Umbra smiled and gave him a plate of pork chops and bread sticks. Her son nodded in thanks and took the plate.

"So I heard that you three found something interesting today." Umbra said once everyone had a plate.

"Yeah, Bellator found a cave close to here and we, Bellator, Forma, Inferno, and Amore went to go explore it. We found some engraved pictures on a wall and a time crystal." Bedagi explained.

"Wow, that's a rare find. Very few of those survived the war way back then. Good work." his mother praised.

"We can't take all the credit. Tamhigan did half the work for us." Frysa praised with a small smile.

"Well good job, Tamhigan." Umbra said as she nuzzled her son.

He didn't know how to respond to her nuzzle, so he just continued eating after she stopped. The family and ice dragoness continued eating and talking about their day until they all finished their dinner. Umbra took their plates and went into the kitchen to wash them.

"So how did your therapy session go?" Bedagi asked his brother.

Tamhigan just gave a simple shrug as he formed dark blue electricity between his talons and watched the energy dance.

"Well you're easily entertained." Frysa giggled as he watched his own electricity with interest.

"Why do you do that? Most dragons only use their mouth to use their element." Bedagi asked curiously.

Tamhigan pointed to the respirator on his gas mask.

"Oh." his brother said, feeling silly for asking.

Umbra walked back into the room with a tired smile.

"Well I'm going to bed now. I'll see you all in the morning." she said as she hugged them one by one.

"Goodnight." Bedagi and Frysa said in unison as the adult dragoness entered her room to get some sleep.

Tamhigan stretched and then stood up.

"You going to bed too?" Frysa asked him.

He nodded and gave them a quick wave as he entered his room. They said goodnight to him as he shut the door.

Tamhigan set his sling and gas mask on his desk. He yawned quietly as he approached his bed. The former human crawled into bed and pulled his blanket over him. He gently closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

He opened his eyes to see a stone tiled ceiling. The first thing he noticed was that he was wearing his gas mask again. The second thing was that he was in his human form again. Since he was aware of what he was doing, he assumed it wasn't a flashback.

Jack stood up and cautiously looked around. The armored young adult found himself in a room made of stone, kind of like a castle. The room is very large and he's in the center of it. The walls are lit with torches, but the room is still relatively dark.

"So we meet at last." said a dark voice in the shadows.

Jack reached for his guns, but found that all of his weapons have been removed.

"There's no need to use violence. I'm a… family friend." the voice chuckled, sounding closer this time.

A large dragon stepped out of the darkness and into Jack's sight.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is… Malefor, but most just call me The Dark Master." the big purple dragon introduced with a smile.

Jack didn't like this dragon one bit. Malefor reminded him of the Ku Klux Klan, especially with the stories he's heard about him.

"The silent type I see. Well that will at least keep you out of trouble." Malefor observed as he took a few more steps forward until they were less than five feet away from each other.

The Dark Master is much taller than the other dragons that Jack's met, but size has never stopped him before.

"I'm here to give you an offer." Malefor said as he looked down at the human with his yellowed eyes.

Jack nodded, allowing the dragon to speak his peace.

"Because of some… unfortunate events, I have been trapped in a convexity crystal for many years. I would like you to release me from my prison. Not only will I reward you with some of my powers, but I will also keep your family and friends safe." the big purple dragon promised.

Jack knew he was lying, he could see it in the dragon's slit eyes.

"Fuck you…" Jack growled quietly.

Malefor frowned at the human before him.

"I am giving you this offer because you aren't like your great-grandfather and father. You don't care what happens to the innocent or the world. I couldn't even find your inner darkness." The Dark Master began, starting to circle around the human.

"At first I thought you're inner darkness already controlled you, but you would've killed everyone by now if that were true. You haven't conquered it either because of your dark and murderous nature. The only conclusion I can think of is that both your inner darkness and inner light somehow combined with each other. The perfect shade of gray." Malefor explained.

Jack just stood there as the dark dragon circled him, forming a purple scaled circle around him.

"I will escape from my prison and I will rule the world. Just remember, the offer is still open." Malefor said as they area began to get even darker until it was fully black.

The darkness was soon replaced by a white light and Jack found himself on some kind of beach. There are soldiers wearing greenish brown uniforms performing various tasks. One of the soldiers with a large radio on his back walked up to him.

Jack recognized this soldier. He saw him dancing with his dad during the ghost dance with their other ancestors.

"Hello Jack. I think it's about time we get better acquainted. My name's Dylan." The Code Talker greeted as he walked up to him.

The soldier motioned for him to follow and they both commenced to walk down the French beach.

"I saw Malefor talking to you and I'll be the first one to tell you that he's lying. He hates our family and I think he just wants you to be his slave." Dylan said as he and his great-grandson walked down the war torn beach.

Jack didn't respond and Dylan couldn't tell what he was thinking behind that gas mask of his. They both walked until they were about halfway down the beach.

"Listen, Malefor hates our family for a reason. I stopped him from destroying the Dragon Realms during the first war against him and your father stopped him from being resurrected. If you agree to help him, then you will just end up being his slave." the soldier explained with a serious tone.

Jack nodded slowly in understanding and looked down. He noticed his ARX 160 rifle strapped to his back, the FN P90 clipped to his chest, the Ruger pistol holstered to his left side, and his cold steel tomahawk sheathed to his belt.

Jack unclipped his P90 and checked if it was in firing condition.

"So you wanna play at that game, do ya?" Dylan smiled as he took out his M1 Garand rifle.

A bunch of target dummies popped up in the distance and the two men crouched to get a better shot.

"That toy's got nothing on this beauty." his great-grandfather gloated as they took aim.

The other soldiers formed a crowd behind them and to watch them shoot. The two relatives began firing at the dummies. Whenever a dummy was shot, it would disappear in a cloud of colored smoke. Red smoke was for Jack and blue was for Dylan. Because his great-grandfather's rifle only fires one round at a time, Jack switched his submachine gun to single shot to make things fair. Jack remembered having similar tournaments in the Colony, except the winner would receive food or supplies.

The soldiers held bets on who would get the most kills. They both fired for about a minute until all the dummies were shot. They lowered their weapons and looked at the crowd expectedly.

"Privet Dylan's got twelve kills and Jack's got eleven!" an Asian-American medic called out.

"Ooooh! Off by one kill!" Dylan laughed as he rested a hand on his great-grandson's shoulder.

"FUCK! I THOUGHT PEOPLE WHO DRESS IN BLACK WHERE SUPPOSED TO BE LUCK!" one of the soldiers yelled as he gave his bet money to another soldier who flipped him off in return.

Dylan chuckled at his squad mates' shenanigans and looked up at the cloudy sky.

I should probably let you go now. Just don't do anything Malefor tells you." his great-grandfather said.

Jack nodded and the whole area began to glow brightly. Within moments, he felt himself begin to wake up.

* * *

Tamhigan woke up in his room, back in his dragon form. He sighed quietly and sat up to look out the window.

The former human wiped some sweat from his forehead and watched as the sun rose in the horizon.

He thought about The Dark Master's offer and what he and his great-grandfather revealed to him. He knew that the dragon's promises were all lies, but Malefor looked like he did really want him to join him at his side. Tamhigan frowned and looked straight ahead.

"I fight… and die… alone." he said quietly, hoping Malefor heard him.

Tamhigan sighed quietly and got up to get ready for school.

* * *

Malefor is watching Tamhigan through a dark Pool of Visions. He has been trapped in a crystallized version of the Temple for many years. He can't sleep or eat and the only thing he can do is look into the Pool of Visions.

He frowned at the former human's words directed at him.

'Why can't he just join me? What caused him to be so neutral?" he thought to himself.

He began to focus on Tamhigan and where or how he got the way he is. The Pool began to form a destroyed city that is covered in snow.

"What is this place?" Malefor asked himself as he looked into the Post-Apocalypse Realm.

He spotted a group humans wearing white clothes moving through the deserted street.

'They're dressed like Tamhigan. Is this where he and his family come from?" he asked in his head as he watched the KKK soldiers.

He watched as the soldiers entered one of the destroyed buildings and began looting for food and other goods.

"Scavengers." Malefor said with disgust.

All of a sudden, a bunch of dog sized Spiders jumped out of the vents and started attacking the soldiers. Some of the humans were torn apart of the spot, while others were dragged away into the darkness.

"I wonder if those spiders can be controlled." Malefor thought aloud as he watched the soldiers be picked off one by one.

The fight ended when the last soldier shot himself in the head before the Spiders could get to him. The monstrous arachnids ate the dead humans and dragged the paralyzed ones away. Malefor focused on the humans being dragged and watched them being brought to Spiders twice the size of the others.

"Those must be the females." The Dark Master observed.

The female Spiders crawled over the humans and removed their white gas masks. The Spiders bent down low and started laying eggs down their paralyzed throats. It took a long time to do, but once they were done, the females spinned the humans into cocoons of webbing.

"That'll hurt when the babies hatch." Malefor chuckled at the humans' predicament.

The Dark Master sat down and rubbed his chin in thought.

"There is no place like this in the Dragon Realms. That must mean that this place is in another realm or world, but if that's true, how did Tamhigan and his other family members get here?" he thought aloud.

He sat there thinking about the possibilities, but couldn't think of any. He growled with frustration and stormed to the Pool of Visions again.

"I need to be free to find my answers and to be free, I need someone to sacrifice the life of an innocent dragon." he said as he searched for anyone who would be willing to help him, not caring who at this point.

* * *

A lone ape is walking down the streets of Warfang. Ever since the end of the second war against Malefor, the surviving apes have taken refuge in the city. The inhabitants were suspicious at first and some still hold grudges against them, but most have grown to deal with it over time.

The ape walking down the street has light brown fur and yellow eyes. He has a gray book bag slung over his shoulder. This ape is named Nix.

Nix is walking home from his night shift at the library and he couldn't wait to get some sleep.

'I swear if that mole makes me work another whole night again, I'm gonna blow a fuse.' Nix thought to himself as he entered the apartment building in front of them.

He climbed the stairs until he reached the third floor. He walked down the hall and saw the landowner walking in the opposite direction towards him.

"Hello, Nix. How was your shift?" the old wind dragoness asked sweetly.

"Hi, Genus. It was tiring as usual." the ape replied with a tired smile.

Nix liked this dragoness a lot. She is the only non-ape who has shown him any kindness in the city. They've been friends ever since he moved in three years ago.

"You really should try to convince your boss to give you better ours. These night shifts have been getting to you, I can tell." the old woman said with concern for her friend.

"I've tried, but he just won't listen to me. It's not that I don't like working there either, the hours and people are just bad." Nix replied with an upset expression.

Genus placed a paw on his shoulder and smiled.

"Don't worry, Nix. Everything will work out in the end. I promise." the wind dragoness said sweetly.

The ape smiled at the dragoness and nodded.

"Thanks, Genus. You always know what to say." Nix thanked as his friend let him go.

"It's no trouble deary. Now go get some sleep." she smiled at the young ape.

"Will do." Nix chuckled as he unlocked his door and opened it.

He said goodbye to the old dragoness and entered his apartment. Nix grabbed an apple from his fruit basket on the kitchen counter and bit it. As he ate he walked into his room and hung his book bag on the coat hanger.

Once he finished eating the apple, he tossed it into the waste basket without much care.

'Bed… now.' he thought to himself as he approached his bed.

Unlike dragon beds, which consist of pillows, his bed resembles the beds humans used during medieval times.

Nix crawled into bed and closed his eyes, He soon felt asleep overtake him.

* * *

Nix slowly opened his eyes. He noticed he was on a stone floor and that he was in a dark room.

"How did I get here?" the ape asked worriedly as he slowly stood up and looked around.

"Hello young one." Nix heard a distorted voice in the shadows.

"Who's there!?" he asked, starting to feel fear creep into him.

Malefor walked into the light so the young ape could see him.

"You're… you're…" Nix stammered in fear.

"The Dark Master? Yes." The dark dragon chuckled at the young ape's reaction to his presence.

Nix's father told him about his time in the war. His father would always preach about how Malefor betrayed the apes and how their kind should rule the world. Nix doesn't know too much about Malefor, but he does know that he's a very dangerous dragon.

"Please don't hurt me." Nix whimpered as Malefor stepped closer, invading his personal space.

Malefor leaned forward so that their faces were almost touching. Nix shivered when the dragon's hot breath brushed against his face.

"I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I require your assistance." The Dark Master said with a smile.

"Wha… what?" Nix asked as he shook like a leaf.

"You see, I'm trapped in a convexity crystal in the center of the Earth. In order for me to get out, I require the blood of an innocent dragon. I want you to find someone to sacrifice for me… and bring them to my mountain." the dragon explained.

"Why me?" the ape asked fearfully.

"Because I've chosen you above everyone else to do this task." Malefor said simply.

"But I don't wanna kill anyone…" Nix said, feeling tears come to his eyes as the intimidating dragon stared straight into him.

"I will reward you for your services. I will give you power beyond your imagination and I will give your kind a second chance." Malefor promised.

Nix began to think. He liked the dragon's words, but he still felt unsure. Plus he felt terrified in the dragon's presence.

"Aren't you tired of your people being looked down upon? Just do this simple task for me, and your people will be looked at as heroes." Malefor spoke with his silver tongue.

Nix looked at the ground and nodded.

"Okay… I'll do it." he said weakly.

Malefor's smile widened and he draped a wing over the young ape.

"You won't regret this decision." The Dark Master assured as he held Nix close to himself.

The room began to darken and Nix felt himself start to awaken.


	11. Tomahawk

**Here's a fresh chapter for all you readers out there. I actually had some help with this one. gw1000 gave me some plot ideas and some weapon ideas. Zach The Fire Dragon suggested a scene and came up with the idea of a new monster in this chapter. So go read their stories or annoy them with PMs saying good job or whatever the fuck you wanna do. Now on with the story!**

Chapter 11: Tomahawk

Tamhigan, Bedagi, and Frysa are walking down the hall to their first class of the day. After they finished breakfast back at the apartment, they said goodbye to Umbra and left for class.

Tamhigan didn't tell them about his two visions last night. He's always dealt with all of his hardships by himself and he wanted this to be the same.

The three dragons approached the art room and entered. They walked to the table were Amare and Inferno were sitting and sat down with them.

"Hey there you three, what's up?" Inferno greeted them.

"Hey Inferno; Amare. We've been good." Bedagi responded with a smile and a nod to each of them.

"That's good to hear." Amare said with her own smile.

Once the rest of the students entered and took their seats, Cynder stood up with everyone's' drawing from last class. The black dragoness passed back the class' drawings from three days ago. After a short wait, the group got their work back.

"I got an A!" Amare said happily.

"A-." Bedagi informed them.

"B." Inferno stated.

"I also got an A-." Frysa told the group.

"What did you get, Tamhigan?" Bedagi asked curiously.

Instead of saying anything, he gave his brother the graded paper with shrug.

"Wow, an A+! Nice job!" Bedagi praised with a smile as he looked at the disturbing, but well detailed drawing of a Feral.

Tamhigan didn't know what the letters meant, but he assumed that he got a good score. He took back his drawing with a thankful nod. The group switched their attention to their teacher.

After she gave back everyone's drawing, Cynder walked to the front of the room and looked at the class before her.

"Alright everyone, today I want you all to draw your tail blades. You can use anything from pencil, pen and ink, painting, or oil pastels. This project will take a few classes to do so take your time. Also, feel free to make a background if you have extra time." she informed everyone.

The class got the supplies they needed, rested the ends of their tails in front of them, and started working.

"I have no idea how I'm gonna do the serrated part of my tail blade." Bedagi complained as he struggled with the outline of the serrated edge of the lethal blade.

"Just skip over that part and go back to it later." Inferno suggested with a small shrug.

"Okay, if you say so." Bedagi shrugged as well and took the fire dragon's advice.

As his friends were talking as they worked, Tamhigan's mind went to a different place. He began to think about his signature weapon and he started to have another flashback.

* * *

Jack is jogging down the snowy street of Boston. His black uniform isn't as scratched and dirty as it usually is and he doesn't have his tomahawk strapped to his belt. The gas mask wearing human is carrying an FN P90 with a laser sight.

He jogged towards a history museum and ran through the old double doors. The first thing he saw was a rusty Luner Lander from the 1960's on a large stand in the center of the lobby.

Jack ignored the piece of space race technology and searched for a food area of some kind. He is running dangerously low on food and he's been getting desperate to find something to eat. He hasn't eaten in three days.

Jack searched for two full hours, but didn't find a single sign of food. He was starting to get frustrated, but one of the displays caught his attention.

He walked up to the glass container and looked at the weapon inside. It is a fully black cold steel tomahawk. One end has the tomahawk blade with three holes in the middle of the blade. This was intentionally made to make the weapon much lighter. The other side of the Native American inspired weapon is a three inch long lethal spike. He noticed a plaque under the display case and read it to himself.

_Vietnam Tomahawk_

_Used by Sergeant John Bradley during the Vietnam War in 1968-1970. Many replicas have been made, but there are very few cases of the original Vietnam Tomahawks and they are very rare. Since then, the U.S. military has used Tomahawks as a substitute for combat knives if the soldier so chooses. Tomahawks have been used in almost every war the United States have fought in, including the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan. _

Jack became very interested in this weapon. He's heard some of the older people at the Colony mention Vietnam. He also knows that his native people used tomahawks as both a weapon of war and a symbol of peace.

The young human used the stock of his submachine gun to break the glass and wipe the glass shards away. Once he was certain he wouldn't get cut, he clipped the P90 to his chest and picked up the tomahawk. He gave it a few experimental swings and nodded in approval.

He strapped the tomahawk to his belt, took out his P90 again, and continued his search for food. He quietly walked down the hallway until he heard a noise.

"Get the fuck on the ground!" Jack heard someone shout in the room to his right.

He silently made his way to the sound and peeked out of the doorframe. In the next room are four KKK soldiers holding a Hispanic man at gunpoint.

"Please don't shoot!" the man begged the men in white masks.

The soldiers didn't listen and shot the man repeatedly with their M16-A3 assault rifles. Once they stopped shooting, the man's corpse was laying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood. The soldiers laughed as the blood formed a small river down the stairs to the basement.

"Did you see the look in that guy's eyes? Priceless!" one of the soldiers shouted excitedly.

As the murderers were talking amongst themselves, Jack switched the safety off on his P90 and turned the laser sight on. The red dot slowly made its way up one of the soldier's legs and to the side of his head. Before any of them noticed the red dot, he held the trigger down.

The man's head exploded in a hail of gunfire and brain matter. The other soldiers screamed in panic as they dove for cover.

"You're gonna pay for that you shit!" one of the soldiers screamed in anger.

Jack immediately shot this soldier as well, seeing the very top of his head, and the soldier fell down without another word.

"SHIT! SHIT HE KILLED FUCING MICHEAL!" one of the two surviving soldiers screamed.

"FUCK!" the other soldier shouted in surprise when Jack fired more rounds near their position, causing small clouds of dust to form around the men.

All of a sudden there was a loud buzzing sound and the three men stopped shooting at each other. They all looked around, trying to find the source of the sound.

"What is that?" one of the soldiers asked curiously.

Even Jack was confused with the sound. He's never heard anything like it before in the city. He looked around the room, completely ignoring the soldiers for now.

The buzzing got louder and a shadow formed over the overhead window on the ceiling.

"Holy… mother of FUCK!" the other soldier screamed as the new creature burst its way through the window and began to fly down towards the two exposed soldiers.

The creature resembles a large hornet. It is four times the size of a human and has a curvy yellow and black body. Its see-through wings are extremely large and fluttering to keep it in the air. The Hornet has a two foot longer stinger at the end of its body and large black eyes.

The Hornet grabbed the closest soldier and hovered in the air. Saliva oozed through its mandibles and onto the man's gas mask lens.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" the man pleaded to the creature that had him at its mercy.

If the Hornet could understand English, it didn't listen for it stabbed his lower back and pierced all the way through to his stomach. The man gurgled loudly as the Hornet pulled its stinger out and dropped the man to the floor.

"You son of a bitch!" the remaining soldier screamed as he unloaded his whole clip on the giant insect.

His bullets didn't seem to do anything as it started to fly towards him.

Knowing that he wouldn't stand a chance, Jack got up and sprinted away from the scene. He heard the man's blood curdling screams as he ran down the hall and into the lobby. He stopped dead however when he heard the buzzing noise again.

Jack knew that bullets wouldn't work on the monster, so he replaced his P90 for his new tomahawk.

The Hornet smashed through the double doors and began to fly towards Jack. He quickly rolled out of the way and watched as the insect hit the wall. The human ran up to the creature and attempted to chop into it, but the thing's thick exoskeleton protected it from the attack.

The Hornet batted him away with one of its legs and took flight again. Once it reached the ceiling, the insect took a nose dive straight for Jack. When it was just about to sting into him, he chopped off one of its legs.

The giant insect screeched loudly and flew to the opposite side of the room. Jack ran out the double doors, but he heard the Hornet following him. Once the monster got close enough, it grabbed a hold of the human and flew up into the air.

Jack screamed in complete fear as the Hornet quickly flew over the city. He looked in the distance and saw a giant bees nest many miles away outside the city. Knowing that going there would be certain death, he began chopping at the Hornet's legs again.

The Hornet screeched in pain as Jack cut off another one of its legs. It dropped the human and landed on a rooftop to check the damage.

Jack landed on another rooftop with a loud grunt. Amazingly, he was still holding his tomahawk. He slowly stood up and noticed the Hornet flying towards him again. He sprinted to the door leading to the stairs and tried to open it, only to realize that it was locked.

"COME ON!" Jack screamed desperately through his gas mask as he started chopping at the door.

Amazingly, the door fell off its hinges and Jack ran inside just before the Hornet could grab him again. It tried to claw its way inside, but it couldn't fit through the small doorframe. It finally gave up and flew back to its nest.

Jack sighed in relief and started his descent down the stairs. Once he reached the street again, he looked around to make sure the Hornet wouldn't come back. Once he was sure it was gone, he started to walk back to the Colony elevator. The Hornet's blood dripped off his tomahawk as he walked into the fog.

* * *

"Yo Tamhigan… you alright?" Inferno asked worriedly.

Tamhigan shook himself out of the flashback and looked at his friends' worried expressions. The former human nodded as he wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"Another flashback?" Amore asked gently.

Tamhigan nodded again and everyone at the table gave him a sympathetic look. The black dragon sighed and looked at his drawing. Surprisingly, his sketch is actually pretty good. He hasn't even started with the tail part yet, but the tomahawk blade is spot on.

"Very good, Tamhigan. Keep it up." Cynder smiled, not noticing that her student spaced out earlier.

He nodded in thanks and handed his drawing in to finish next class. The bell rang and the group left for their next class for the day.

"So what did you see in your flashback if I may ask?" Bedagi asked curiously.

"A big bee…" his brother answered with his deep voice.

"I hate bugs." Frysa shivered at the thought of a giant insect.

The group continued down the hall to get to their second class.

* * *

Umbra watched as her class left for their next subject. She doesn't have any classes this period so she decided to relax a little. She rested her head on her desk and closed her eyes.

The black dragoness thought about her mate, Voltage. She missed him dearly and the only thing keeping her going in life was her two sons and Frysa.

Umbra felt tears come to her closed eyes as she thought about her deceased lover. She didn't know what those nuclear bombs did to him, but she hoped it was at least painless.

She also thought about Tamhigan and what he experienced in that harsh world of his. She couldn't even imagine how hard it must have been to go through that hell alone without any family or friends.

"I'm a failure as a parent." she sobbed quietly.

Umbra couldn't help, but blame herself for everything that's happened to her family.

'If I didn't let Halu and Culus kidnap me all those years ago, none of this would have ever happen. I'm so weak.' she thought sadly as she silently whimpered.

The black dragoness kept thinking down about herself until she quietly cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Umbra woke up to the sound of fast paced music in the background. She opened her eyes to find herself in a clearing in the middle of a forest.

'How did I get here?' she thought to herself as she looked around.

There is a big black stage in the center of the clearing with blood red lettering that says "Dethklok." The band on the stage is what was causing the fast paced music. The singer was screaming something "Awaken!" into the microphone over and over again with a death growl.

Umbra stood up as a hooded man calmly walked up to her. Her eyes shot open as her lover in his human form approached her. She sprinted to him and gave him a huge hug.

"VOLTY! I'VE MISSED YOU!" she sobbed into his shoulder.

Isaac smiled at his mate and hugged her back.

"It's alright Umbra, I'm here now." he said soothingly as he gently rubbed her back and kissed her forehead.

The two mates sat down in the grass and cuddled each other.

"I heard what you said back there. My death and our son's upbringing was not your fault. There is no possible way any of us could have expected those two to go completely crazy. You are not a failure as a parent." Isaac comforted as he wiped her tears away.

Umbra smiled at his words and rested her head under her chin.

"Did it hurt?" she asked hesitantly.

"Did what hurt?" Isaac questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Dying…" she clarified quietly.

Her mate sighed and held her closer.

"No. My body disintegrated before I could feel a thing. I didn't even see the bright flash." he answered.

The dragoness and human stayed like that for awhile, listening to the music being played. After what seemed like forever, Isaac looked down at his mate.

"It's time for you to wake up now. The next class is about to start." he explained.

"Will I ever see you again?" Umbra asked.

Isaac smiled and kissed her on the nose.

"Of course, honey. If you ever wish to see me, just think about me before you go to sleep." he explained to her.

"I love you, Volty." Umbra smiled as the area began to glow brightly.

"I love you too, sweetie." Isaac responded moments before she woke up.

* * *

Nix is lying down in his bed and staring up at the ceiling. He's been thinking about the task Malefor gave him in his dreams.

'I'm supposed to sacrifice an innocent dragon. Who should I sacrifice?' the ape thought to himself.

He sighed loudly and stood up. He slung his gray book bag over his shoulder, stuffed it with some food, and walked out the door. The ape noticed Genus walking up to him.

"Hello, Nix. Have you slept well?" the old wind dragoness asked sweetly.

"Not exactly, no." Nix answered honestly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Amare apologized.

'Maybe I could sacrifice her.' the ape thought to himself, but shook those thoughts out of his head.

'Not her! She's been too good to me.' he thought in his mind.

"I'm gonna go on a little… vacation. I don't know when I'll be back." Nix told her.

"That's fine young one. You deserve a break." Genus smiled in understanding.

"I'll see you around." Nix smiled as he walked down the hall.

"Goodbye, Nix!" she called as he took his descent down the stairs.

Nix walked into the street and towards the city gates.

'I'm sure I'll find someone on my way there. There are many villages in the direction I'm going.' the ape thought as he walked out of the city and into the dirt path leading to Avalar.

* * *

Malefor chuckled as he looked into the dark version of the Pool of Visions. He watched as a small group of scavengers were attacked by a Brute. The humans' bullets didn't even puncture the thing's skin as it tore them apart with its claws.

Ever since The Dark Master discovered the Post-Apocalyptic Realm, he's been spending the majority of his time looking at the events unfold there.

"I wonder if I could bring these creatures to the Dragon Realm." The Dark Master thought aloud.

The Brute ripped the last survivor in half and began feeding on the corpses. Malefor smiled wickedly at the display.

"I will find a way to bring these things here and I will control them." he announced confidently.

The evil purple dragon laughed loudly as the monster in the pool devoured its kills.


	12. Walk in my Shoes

**Okay I just want to say this because I've been asked this at least four times now. I've never played any of the Halo games or Metro: 2033 (I'm a PS3 gamer). I didn't base anything on this story on any of those franchises. I created all, but one of the monsters in this story. Please stop asking if I based the monsters off these or if I played them, it's starting to get very frustrating. On a side note, my friend, gw1000, has written a story that features Dylan Bedage. If you want to check it out, look up The Legend of Spyro:Brothers in Arms. READ IT!**

Chapter 12: Walk in my Shoes

Tamhigan, Bedagi, Frysa, and Bellator are walking out of their last class for the day. The day went by without any incidents and it was relatively boring.

"I still don't see the reason why we have to learn about slopes." Bellator grumbled as they walked down the hallway.

Tamhigan rolled his eyes and began to walk in a different direction.

"You going to see Vex?" Frysa asked with a raised eyebrow.

The black dragon nodded and continued to his destination. Once he got to the Fear Guardians door, he knocked three times.

"Just a second!" he heard her call frantically.

Out of curiosity, Tamhigan leaned his head against the door to listen to what was happening on the other end.

"We'll do this some other time, I promise." he heard Vex's voice as the sound of a window opening was heard.

"Fine. I'll see you tonight." Tavilla's voice was heard.

The former human heard the sound of shuffling feet and then wing beats. He moved his head away from the door once he heard footsteps approaching the door. The door opened and the Fear Guardian smiled down at him.

"Hello Tamhigan. Sorry about the wait, I was… polishing my scales." she said unconvincingly.

Tamhigan just looked at her with a bored expression, knowing what she was really doing with the Fire Guardian.

"Anyway, come on in." Vex stepped aside for him to enter.

The black dragon nodded and walked into her room as she closed it behind him. He approached the pillow he sat on yesterday and layed down on his back. Vex also took her seat and got comfortable.

"Let's get started. So these flashbacks, do they happen at random or do certain things trigger them?" she asked the black dragon.

Tamhigan held up two talons, indicating the second one. Vex nodded in understanding.

"I would like to try something different this time." she said as she stood up.

The Fear Guardian walked behind Tamhigan and gently placed her forepaws on the sides of his head.

"I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind." Vex said softly.

Tamhigan closed his eyes and did as instructed. He cleared his thoughts and let his subconscious wonder where it pleased. Vex's eyes began to glow a crimson red, allowing her to witness his flashback.

* * *

Jack is walking down a barely lit hallway. All of his weapons are sheathed and there is no one in the hall. He is in Ku Klux Klan territory right now so he was trying to avoid the crowds at the central district.

The gas mask wearing man turned the corner at the end of the hall and came to an old sewer. Jack looked around and shrugged. Thinking that he took a wrong turn, he began to walk back where he came from.

"Wait…" a weak male voice pleaded.

Jack turned around and saw four people huddled in the corner. He walked up to the people to get a better look at them.

They appear to be a family of four. There is a mother, a father, a young child, and a grandfather. The family looked very sick and were coughing a lot.

"Please help us… we're sick and no one will give us any medicine." the father pleaded after a short coughing fit.

Jack could tell they had radiation sickness. They were very frail and their hair was starting to fall out. There was nothing that could be done for them even with medicine. He began to turn around to walk away, but the father weakly grabbed his left hand.

"Please… do something…" the father pleaded with tears in his eyes.

Jack took out his Ruger pistol and turned the safety off. He looked at the father for confirmation. The tired man nodded weakly and the mother covered their son's eyes with her hand.

**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**

Jack stared down at the four corpses, each with a bullet hole in their skull. He knew that they wouldn't have survived even if they did get medicine. He turned the safety back on and put the pistol back in its holster.

He turned around and exited the old sewers without a sound. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ended up in a large room full of Klan soldiers. They appeared to be watching an execution and didn't notice Jack's entrance.

"By the order of God, you are to be put to death for your crimes against the white nation!" the Klan member at the pedestal shouted at the African-American in stocks.

"God isn't the sadistic asshole you make him out to be! You're all out of your FUCKING MINDS!" the man screamed in anger and fear.

"KILL THE NEGRO!" the crowd chanted over and over again.

The Klan member at the pedestal took two wires that had sparks coming out of them and pressed them against the man's back. The man screamed in agony as the electrodes painfully entered his body.

Jack unclipped his P90 and took careful aim. There was a loud boom with a flash and the executioner's head exploded in a cloud of blood and brain matter. The black man sighed in relief as the wires fell to the floor.

All the soldiers began screaming and preparing their weapons. Jack clipped his submachine gun to his chest and took out a smoke grenade he stole a few days ago. He dropped in to the ground as a cloud of white smoke shrouded over the whole room with light gray fog.

Before he couldn't see him anymore, Jack shot the padlock on the stock that was restraining the man, freeing him in the process. Once Jack did that, he sprinted out of the room as fast as his legs would allow him. He heard the Ku Klux Klan members running after him and saw bullets fly past him as he ran, but he didn't stop.

He found a long staircase leading upwards and started climbing. The soldiers stopped dead in their tracks and watched Jack run. He didn't know why they stopped, but soon found out once he reached the top.

The staircase led to the entrance to the bunker that he first entered as a baby. Jack cautiously walked out of the heavily armored building and into the snowy wasteland. It is a cloudy day and snow is gently falling from the sky.

Jack unclipped his P90 and walked down the abandoned street. He was hoping to get to the elevator that leads to the free part of the Colony.

All of a sudden there was a loud cawing noise and Jack looked up. A flock of Flyers could be seen flying straight for him. Their glowing yellow eyes stared at him hungrily and their wide smiles drooled with saliva.

Jack raised his submachine gun and released short bursts at the baby-like monsters. Some of them fell out of the sky, but they were still flying for him. He turned around and began sprinting away from the radiated mutants.

He could hear their wings flapping behind him as he ran for all he's worth. He tried to shoot them as he ran, but he was so scared that his hands were shaky and he kept missing.

Jack gave up on trying to shoot them down and kept running. He saw the entrance to the elevator at the next block and ran slightly faster. The Flyers realized this and flew even faster. Sweat dripped down the fleeing man's face as he ran, watching the entrance get closer and closer.

Just when he was about to enter the sanctuary, he tripped on black ice and fell to the ground with a grunt. The Flyers were just about to devour him when a pack of Ferals jumped out of a nearby building and attacked the Flyers.

Jack watched as the two groups of monsters fought each other over him. Not wanting to be the victors' meal, he shakily crawled to the door. One of the Ferals noticed this and jumped on his back. The terrified man struggled to get the thing off him as it tried to bite into him.

He managed to take out his tomahawk and he started chopping away at the dog monster's neck. Its head fell off after a few good swings and Jack kicked the corpse away from him.

Before anything else could happen, Jack shot up and dove into the entrance and shut the metal door behind him. He was so scared that he could hear his own heart beating from the adrenaline.

He slumped to the floor and rested his left hand on his head as he rested his tomahawk wielding hand on his right knee. He sat there for awhile, just trying to calm himself down.

Once Jack felt that he was well enough to move, he slowly stood up and walked to the elevator. He pulled the lever down and he started to descend into the Colony.

* * *

The vision ended and Tamhigan slowly opened his eyes, only to see dark red scales. Vex cried heavily as she held the young dragon close to her. Neither of them spoke as she held onto him and whimpered.

There was a knocking at the door and Umbra entered the room.

"Is everything alright in here?" she asked worriedly when she saw the Fear Guardian and her son like they were.

Vex let the young dragon go and sniffed a bit.

"I don't even understand how someone could survive the things he's experienced." she said once she was calm enough to speak.

Umbra walked up to her son and draped a wing over his shoulders.

"Is he going to be okay?" his mother asked with a worried expression.

"I… don't know. I've never dealt with someone who's gone through so much… horror." the Fear Guardian explained honestly.

The two dragonesses looked at the ground in thought as Tamhigan just frowned. He just wanted to go home and get something to eat. He wanted to forget these memories, not re-experience them.

"What should we do with him?" Umbra asked as she held her son closer.

"I guess we just continue with these therapy sessions and give him a safe and happy life." Vex answered.

Umbra nodded and Tamhigan stood up to leave with his mother.

"Thanks for doing this, Vex. I don't know what would've happened if you didn't offer to help Tamhigan." Umbra said as the three dragons walked over to the door.

"It's no trouble at all." the Fear Guardian smiled weakly as she opened the door.

Umbra and Tamhigan left Vex's room and headed down the hall. They left the temple and walked to their apartment.

* * *

Bedagi and Frysa are home at the apartment. When Umbra left to see how Tamhigan was doing at therapy, Frysa started making chicken parmesan for dinner.

'Umbra's been so kind to me. The least I can do is cook dinner for once.' the ice dragoness thought to herself.

She poked her head into the living room to see Bedagi taking a nap. Frysa smiled at her sleeping friend and continued cooking.

As she was cooking, her mind kept going back to one subject, Tamhigan. She's come to the definite conclusion that she has feelings for him, but she has no idea how to tell him.

'I need to tell him sometime. Who knows, maybe if we got together, he wouldn't be so sad all the time.' she thought with a smile as she cooked.

Frysa reached into the counter and took out four plates. She set them on the table and did the same with some forks.

'I'll tell him tonight.' she concluded as she finished cooking the chicken and noodles.

* * *

Bedagi opened his eyes to see the clear sky above him. He heard some very fast paced music in the background as well.

The black dragon looked around to see that he was in a clearing in some kind of forest. In the center of the clearing is a black stage that says "Rammstein" and they are speaking in a language he couldn't understand.

"What is this place?" Bedagi asked himself as he stood up and looked at the band in awe.

"Bet they don't have music like this in the Dragon Realm." said a voice behind him.

Bedagi whipped around to see a human with a beard smiling at him. The man is wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up and a leather jacket with metal spikes sticking out of the shoulders and under the arms. The dragon could just barely see his brown eyes under the hood's shadow.

Bedagi was intimidated by the hooded man, but he remembered the memory his brother showed everyone when they first met.

"D… dad?" the young dragon asked with a cracked voice

Isaac bent down so they were eye to eye and nodded. Bedagi's eyes widened and he they both hugged on the spot.

"DAD!" the dragon cried happily with tears in his eyes.

"It's good to see you, son." his father said quietly as he held his child closely.

They eventually let go of each other and sat down in the grass.

"Wow, I've dreamt of this day my whole life." Bedagi said in amazement.

Isaac chuckled quietly, but soon adopted a frown.

"I'm sorry I haven't been there for you. I promised that I'd come back, but I never did…" he said as he lowered his head in shame.

"It wasn't your fault." Bedagi comforted as he nuzzled his father's arm.

Isaac smiled and rested his arm around his son's shoulder.

"Thanks kiddo. You know what they say, better late than never." the human quoted.

They both chuckled and listened to the German band perform with their music and pyrotechnics.

"Your brother cares about you, you know." Isaac said once the song finished and they started playing a slower paced song.

"I know, but it doesn't seem that way sometimes." Bedagi frowned.

"That's because he doesn't know how to express his feelings. If he's anything like me, he'd go through Convexity and back for you and your mother." the hooded man explained.

"He just seems so sad and angry all the time. I want to cheer him up, but I don't know how." his son said sorrowfully.

"Just give him some time. He'll warm up to everyone eventually. Who knows, maybe he'll even speak in full sentences." Isaac told him.

The human looked up into the sky and sighed quietly.

"I should probably let you wake up now. You're mom and brother will be home soon." Isaac said as the area began to glow brightly.

"But I'll never see you again." Bedagi said worriedly.

"Don't worry, If you ever want to talk to me, think about me before you sleep." his father assured.

The area got even brighter and Bedagi could feel himself start to wake up.

"Watch over your brother. He needs you more than you'll ever know." Isaac said just before his son awoke.

* * *

Umbra opened the door to their apartment. She and her son walked into the living room to smell food coming from the kitchen.

"Something smells good." Umbra said as she shut the door behind her and Tamhigan.

Frysa walked in carrying trays of chicken parmesan.

"Did you make this, Frysa?" Umbra asked, astonished at the young dragoness' cooking skills.

"Yeah, I figured that you needed a break from cooking for once." the ice dragoness said as she gave Umbra and Tamhigan their plates.

"Oh you shouldn't have." Umbra giggled as she and her son sat down to eat.

The three dragons turned their attention to Bedagi, who was just starting to wake up.

"Well hello there, sleepyhead. I made dinner." Frysa smiled as she gave him his plate.

She finally sat down with her own plate and they all began eating.

"I had a vision while I was sleeping!" Bedagi said excitedly.

"Really? What did you see?" Umbra asked as everyone stopped eating to listen.

"I saw dad! He was talking to me in his human form and we listened to music from the human world." he told them all.

"That's wonderful to hear. I had a similar vision earlier today." his mother smiled.

Tamhigan lost interest once they started going into details about their visions and continued eating. He noticed Frysa smiling at him, but he chose to ignore it for now.

Once everyone finished eating, Umbra and Frysa worked together on the dishes as the two brothers stayed in the living room.

"How has your day been?" Bedagi asked suddenly, catching his brother by surprise.

"Had worse." Tamhigan shrugged.

He saw a quick flash of the family he killed, but it went away when his brother spoke again.

"Why is the human world destroyed? What happened to it?" Bedagi asked curiously.

"Humans killed it." the former human said quietly.

"Why?" his brother persisted.

Tamhigan turned and looked into his brother's gray eyes.

"Greed." he said emotionlessly.

Tamhigan stood up and left for his room without another word. He shut the door behind him and rested his gas mask on the desk. He walked to his window and stared at the night sky. He watched with interest as the stars shined and the two moons glowed in the dark sky.

After about five minutes of looking, he switched his gaze to his razor sharp tail blade. He's had these thoughts before, the thought of ending his suffering. He's thought about this many times throughout his life and even tried to do it at least three times.

He hated his memories, he hated his past, and he hated himself. The former human brought the blade closer to his throat with each thought.

Tamhigan stopped himself, just inches before his blade met flesh when he heard knocks at his door.

"May we come in, Tamhigan?" he heard his mother's voice.

The former human lowered his tail blade and looked at the stars again.

"Yes." he said just loud enough for them to hear.

The door opened and the three dragons living with him entered. He turned to face them all.

"I'm going to bed sweetie. I'll see you in the morning." Umbra said as she hugged him.

His mother let go of him and exited for her own room.

"Yeah, I'm turning in too. See ya bro." Bedagi said as he gave him a quick hug before leaving as well.

Frysa walked closer to him and sat down on his bed.

"I have something to say to you." she said with a shy smile.

Tamhigan shrugged and sat down next to her.

"I've… been having these weird feelings lately that I've never felt before. I was confused at first… but now I know what it is." the ice dragoness said, starting to feel more confident in herself.

The black dragon nodded, urging her to continue.

"Tamhigan… I… I love you." Frysa said with a sweet, but shy smile.

Tamhigan didn't say anything. He kept his emotionless expression and stood up. He walked to the window again and stared at the night sky.

"I'm not the man for you…" he said quietly.

"W… what?" Frysa asked; starting to feel her heart breaking as tears filled her eyes.

He didn't say anything; he just kept staring into the stars. The ice dragoness started crying and she ran out of his room.

Tamhigan knew he broke her heart, but he knew it was better this way. His own heart has been dead since that woman took his childhood away when he was seven years old.


	13. I Don't Wanna Live

**So a bunch of you were sad that Tamhigan turned Frysa down. It turned into a much bigger deal to people than I thought it would, hell one person in the reviews even wrote some poetry. I just want to say that I'm not planning on having Tamhigan in a relationship; he's just not that type of guy. Now I'm sure you just want me to shut the fuck up so you can read the chapter so…**

Chapter 13: I don't Wanna Live

Jack is running down one of Boston's alleyways. He's holding his ARX 160 assault rifle in a death grip. The distinct sound of loud buzzing could be heard above him.

He took a quick glance at the sky and saw a Hornet following him. He noticed that it was the same one from before because it was missing two of its legs.

Jack climbed over the chain link fence and sprinted down the foggy street. The Hornet continued the chase and followed close behind. The human's heavy breaths were easily heard through the respirator as he ran with all his might.

His fleeing was halted however when he tripped on some wet slush on the street corner. He fell to the ground with a loud grunt, dropping his rifle in the process. The buzzing got louder with every passing moment.

The human looked up to see the Hornet flying towards him with its stinger aimed for his chest.

* * *

Tamhigan woke up with a startled gasp. He shot up and breathed heavily, his eyes darting around the dark room he was currently in.

The former human sighed when he realized it was only a dream. He held his forehead with his forepaws and attempted to calm down. Cold sweat dripped from his head as he sat there in the darkness of his room.

The black dragon looked outside to see that it was still night. Wanting to get some fresh air, he stood up, grabbed his sling and gas mask, and walked out of his room. He noticed that Frysa wasn't in the living room, but he just suspected that she went to sleep with Bedagi or Umbra for comfort. He exited the apartment and walked outside without a sound.

Umbra told him that wandering in the swamp at night alone is dangerous, but he didn't really give to shits at this point in his life.

Tamhigan walked down a dirt path behind the Temple, taking in the night air. He stopped in his tracks however when he heard sobbing coming from his left. The former human stealthily followed the sound and hid in the nearby bushes.

Frysa is sitting alone in the small clearing. She is crying heavily and gently rocking herself. Tamhigan didn't feel the slightest bit of pity for her.

"*sob* Wa… why doesn't h… *hiccup* he like me? What did I do wrong? *sniff*" the ice dragoness sobbed loudly.

She continued crying, but what grabbed the black dragon's attention was that she lifted her tail blade up and held it to her throat.

"No one cares about me. *sob* I don't wanna live anymore." she whimpered sadly as the diamond shaped blade began to touch her neck scales.

Tamhigan quickly rushed out of the bushes and tackled her to the ground. He had her firmly pinned to the ground and they stared into each other's eyes.

"T… Tamhigan?" Frysa asked in shock, disbelief, and confusion.

"Don't. Do. That." he ordered, putting emphasis on every word.

"Why? You don't care about me." she accused, but ended up sobbing again.

"Because your life is a haven compared to mine!" the black dragon growled angrily, raising his voice for the first time in years.

The two dragons stayed like that in silence for awhile. Tamhigan looked into Frysa's shocked aqua eyes and she looked into his emotionless brown ones.

"Okay." she eventually said with a cracked voice.

Tamhigan nodded and got off her. The ice dragoness shakily stood up and looked at the one she loved.

"You don't know what I've been through." she said quietly, switching her gaze to the ground.

"Try me." the former human challenged.

Frysa sighed quietly and layed down on the grass.

"My parents died when I was a hatchling. I was raised in an orphanage until it was attacked by the ape army when I was fifteen. I spent an entire year in hiding until Jävel found me." she started.

Tamhigan realized this was going to take awhile and sat down across from her.

"He was nice to me… at first. He convinced his parents to let me stay with them. But then things changed. He told me I had to make up for his kindness and taking up space in his house. He forced me to mate with him. He humiliated me, beat me, forced me to eat his feces… he even forced me to mate with animals a couple times. He said that if I told anyone then he'd kill me." Frysa explained with a depressed expression.

She looked at Tamhigan, but was stunned when he didn't seem remotely disturbed by her past.

"I've seen worse." he stated, but he was partially surprised that it happened at a place like this.

"How can you just sit there as if nothing is wrong!?" she asked with angry tears in her eyes.

Tamhigan didn't know where to start. He seen things many horrible things such as rape, murder, torture, nuclear disease, and so much more. He stood up on his feet and pointed to all the scars covering him.

"This isn't even half the pain I've experienced." he stated quietly.

Frysa's anger extinguished in an instant and looked at the ground with a few sobs.

"I'm sorry I yelled like that. I… I just feel so alone. I don't know what to do." the ice dragoness sobbed.

"You move on." Tamhigan stated, trying not to sound as cold as he usually does.

"How am I supposed to move on? I love you." Frysa whimpered.

Tamhigan didn't have an answer for her. He's never felt love and knows absolutely nothing about the subject.

The two dragons sat there in the darkness. Tamhigan figured that he should at least watch over her while she was in the swamp. They both looked up as the sun began to rise in the distance.

"We should probably get back to the apartment." the ice dragoness sighed.

Tamhigan nodded and they both stood up. They backtracked through the dirt path until they reached the apartment building. Before they entered, Frysa turned to look at Tamhigan.

"Even if you don't… love me, do you at least care about me?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't want you to die." he answered quietly after a short pause, meaning what he said.

Frysa smiled weakly and they entered the building together. They entered their apartment and noticed that everyone was still asleep.

"I'll go make breakfast." Frysa said quietly before she walked into the kitchen.

Tamhigan sat down on the couch and waited for the food to be ready. He knew that Frysa still felt hurt, but he did all he could to help her. The rest is up to her.

The door to Bedagi's room opened and his brother walked in with a yawn.

"Hey, bro. Where's Frysa?" he asked, not knowing about the recent events of last night.

Tamhigan wordlessly pointed the kitchen. Bedagi nodded and sat down next to him.

"We have flight training for our first class. Do you think you're ready for it?" his brother asked.

Tamhigan just shrugged and rested his head on his right forepaw.

'He looks like he hasn't slept all night.' Bedagi observed, but chose not to say anything.

The two brothers just sat there in silence, waiting for their mother to wake up and for the food to be ready.

* * *

Nix has been traveling for over two days now. He's nearing the mountain, but he hasn't found the courage to kidnap any of the dragons he saw on his journey. There's only one more village before the Mountain of Malefor, so he needed to find a dragon there.

He approached the final village and looked at the sign on the side of the road.

"Welcome to Avveckling." the ape read aloud.

Nix shrugged and walked into the small village. He noticed that the village is mostly populated by cheetahs.

'This is gonna be harder than I thought.' he thought to himself.

After hours of searching, he finally found a young dragon reading a book under the shade of a tree. The dragon has red-orange scales with a yellow underbelly and wing membranes. His two horns curve downwards and he possesses a tail blade that resembles a V. He appears to be a fire dragon and he's probably somewhere between fifteen and sixteen years old.

'Okay, now I just need to knock him out and find a way to conceal him.' the ape thought as he looked around the immediate area.

He noticed a large burlap bag on someone's porch that was large enough to carry the dragon.

'Perfect.' Nix thought with a smile as he discretely grabbed the bag and shoved it into his book bag.

'Okay, now for a distraction.' he though as he took out some flint.

Nix walked behind one of the store stands and lit a small fire. He put the flint away and quickly moved away from the area. He was confident that the villagers would put out the fire before anyone got hurt.

The villagers quickly noticed the smoke and focused all of their attention on the growing fire. Nix snuck behind the fire dragon and hit him on the back of the head with a rock. The dragon fell unconscious and the ape took out the burlap bag.

'I really hope the sacrifice won't hurt this guy.' Nix thought sadly as he stuffed the dragon in the bag and tied it shut.

The ape noticed that the fire was put out and everyone was returning to their usual business. Nix sighed in relief and huffed the heavy bag over his shoulder. He walked out of the town towards the Mountain of Malefor with the unconscious fire dragon safely tucked away in the bag.

* * *

Tamhigan, Bedagi and Inferno are outside with the rest of their flying class. Petram and Tumma are both the instructors for the class.

"Alright everybody, you're all going to race around the track today. Follow me please." Tumma told everyone with a smile.

The class followed the shadow dragoness to the track to get started. Tamhigan followed as well, but Petram stopped him by blocking his path with a wing.

"Not so fast, buddy. Do you even know how to fly?" the earth dragoness asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tamhigan shook his head, no.

"Then I guess I'll have to teach you." Petram smiled as she led him to a clear area in the field.

"Now this might sound kinda silly, but I need you to close your eyes and clear your mind." his instructor told him.

The former human didn't want to clear his head. His post-traumatic stress would always get the better of him when he did that.

"Don't worry son, I'll protect you." Tamhigan heard his father in his head.

The black dragon hesitantly closed his eyes and cleared his head as instructed, feeling somewhat confident that his dad would protect his mind.

"Now forget everything, forget yourself. Only through forgetting will you remember what your ancestors already know." the earth dragoness instructed.

Tamhigan wasn't listening, he was simply relaxing in his state of peace.

"Now open your eyes." Petram said quickly.

The former human calmly opened his eyes to see himself hovering a few feet above the ground. His wings were flapping continuously, keeping him in the air.

"Congratulations, Tamhigan. You can now fly like the rest of us dragons." the earth dragoness said proudly.

Tamhigan was surprised at how easy he found flying. It was as if he was born to fly. Petram chuckled as his facial expression and watched him calmly fly around the clearing.

'He likes to take it easy when it comes to flying, I see.' the earth dragoness observed in her head.

Tamhigan eventually joined the rest of the class in their race, but he came in last place because he wanted to take it easy and fly slowly.

The rest of the day went by without any incidents or added drama. When it was time for Tamhigan's therapy session, he walked to Vex's room with a frown. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to experience another flashback. He sighed quietly and knocked on the door three times.

"Come in!" he heard the Fear Guardians voice on the other end.

He opened the door and stepped inside to see Vex already sitting in her usual seat.

"Hello there, Tamhigan. Please lay down." she said sweetly.

The black dragon shut the door behind him and layed down on his pillow as usual.

"I know you're not going to like this, but I want to see another one of your flashbacks. This will be the last time I promise." Vex told him.

The former human's frown deepened. The Fear Guardian stood up and took her position behind him. Her forepaws gently rested on the sides of his head and her eyes began to glow in a crimson color.

Tamhigan sighed in defeat and closed his eyes, allowing his memories to reveal themselves to the both of them.

* * *

Jack is walking down one of the Colony's many hallways. He's carrying an unconscious Ku Klux Klan soldier on his shoulders who he knocked out earlier. He opened the door at the end of the hall and flicked the light on.

The room is made of solid concrete and it is very large. There is a lone chair in the center of the room and a table with a small metal box next to the chair.

Jack set the KKK soldier on the chair and tied his limbs down so that he couldn't escape. The man's legs are tied to the chair's legs and his hands are tied behind his back. The chair is bolted to the floor as well, preventing it from falling over. He took the man's white gas mask off and set it to the side without much care.

He waited patiently for the man to wake up. After about half an hour, the soldier finally came to. The soldier's eyes slowly fluttered open and he looked at Jack with a sleepy, yet confused expression.

"Where am I?" the young soldier asked tiredly.

Jack didn't respond. He slowly walked up to the bound man and stared down at him through his gas mask lens.

"Wha… what do you want from me?" the soldier stuttered, feeling very intimidated by the man dressed in black armor before him.

Jack could tell this soldier was a rookie. This meant that he'd be easier to get information from, but he also might not know anything useful.

"Food." Jack said quietly, not taking his eyes off the restrained soldier.

"Food? You want to know where we keep the food?" the soldier asked for clarification.

Jack nodded slowly.

"I… I can't tell you that. They'd kill me." the man told him.

Without a word, Jack approached the small box on the table and opened it. The soldier gasped fearfully when he pulled out a small metal hook.

"Yu… you're not gonna hurt me with that, are you?" the man asked hopefully as sweat started to form on his forehead.

Jack silently stood in front of the man and held his head steady with his left hand.

"I can't tell you anything!" the soldier cried as the hook was held close to his face.

Jack held the hook so that the tip was hovering just below the left nostril. The man whimpered as the tip was slowly pushed into his nose, but the sharp end didn't connect with any flesh. The man was too scared to move, let alone give his captor the information he wanted.

Jack slowly twisted his wrist, making the hook's tip pierce through the nostril and out the left side of the nose. Pained tears slid down the man's face as his nose was slowly pierced.

All of a sudden, Jack pulled back with all his might, causing the hook to tear out of the man's nose. The soldier screamed loudly in pain as blood dripped down his nose. Jack began to move the bloodied hook to the other nostril.

"NO! NOHOHO! **NOOOOOOO!**" the terrified man screamed as Jack gave his other nostril the same treatment.

Jack tore the hook out of the other nostril and his captive tried desperately to get out of the chair as he roared in agony. Jack then moved the hook towards the man's left eye.

"STOP IT! I'LL BE GOOD! I'LL BE GOOD!" the man screamed with pain and fear.

Jack lowered the hook and looked at the sobbing man expectantly.

"We store all our food at the central district in our territory. It's in the blue tent." the soldier explained with a shaky voice while whimpering uncontrollably.

Jack didn't say anything, but he did put the hook back in the box.

"Please make the pain go away." the young man whimpered as his blood flowed out of his mutilated nose.

Jack nodded as he rubbed the man's shoulder comfortingly. He took out a magnum and pulled the hammer back. Before the captive could comprehend what was happening, he was shot in the forehead, ending his suffering.

Jack put the magnum in his holster and walked out of the room without looking back. He needed that food desperately.

* * *

Tamhigan slowly opened his eyes to see the stone ceiling. He calmly sat up and looked at Vex. She was staring at him with a horrified expression.

"Why did you do that…?" she asked very quietly.

"I was starving." he answered emotionlessly.

"And for that you tortured somebody?" she practically screamed.

The former human didn't respond; he just looked up at the ceiling.

"Just because you're starving, doesn't mean you can torture someone." Vex continued, but still got no response from the dragon.

"What makes you any different from the people you fought!?" she asked loudly.

Tamhigan turned to face her at this.

"I kill and torture so the innocent don't have to." he stated with a serious expression.

'He really thinks he's doing the right thing.' Vex thought with horrified amazement.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." the former human quoted as he stared out the window.

"Oh Tamhigan…" the Fear Guardian said with sympathy.

He didn't care what she thought about his methods. He knew that the monsters needed to be stopped, and he wasn't thinking about the mutants either. He considered himself the better of two evils.

"You should probably head on home now." Vex sighed tiredly.

Tamhigan nodded and stood up. The Fear Guardian opened the door for him and he left without a word. The former human walked down the hall, deep in thought.

He has been called the Devil, the Guardian Demon, and the Black Death. He knows for a fact that he's earned these titles.


	14. Victim's Revenge

**Hello to all you readers out there in the world. A lot of you have reviewed and PMed me about how Jack/Tamhigan was acting like an evilish bastard in the last flashback. You see I pay attention to what you guys say and your opinions about things so I wrote a scene in this chapter that explains why he was so heartless. Enjoy the chapter and review or PM.**

Chapter 14: Victim's Revenge

Tamhigan entered the family apartment to see Frysa and Bedagi talking to each other in the living room. They both went silent as soon as he entered and shut the door behind him. The former human silently sat down next to his brother like usual, not really caring about what they were talking about.

"So… how did therapy go?" Bedagi asked awkwardly.

Tamhigan just shrugged and formed a line of dark blue electricity between his forepaws. The two other dragons simply watched the electricity dance.

After a minute or two, Umbra walked into the kitchen with dinner.

"Hi there, Tamhigan. I made steak." the black dragoness smiled warmly.

She gave everyone a plate and sat down next to Frysa. Bedagi and Frysa thanked her while Tamhigan nodded in gratitude.

"Hey Frysa, are you okay? You seem upset about something." Umbra said gently when she saw that ice dragoness's eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"I'm okay, really." the ice dragoness assured quietly before she started eating.

Umbra knew she wasn't okay, but decided not to push her. The four dragons ate in silence. For some reason, the air had a feeling of dread that made everyone tense.

Once everyone finished eating their meal, Umbra and Frysa worked together on the dishes in the kitchen while Bedagi and Tamhigan had the living room to themselves. They both just sat there in silence.

"We need to talk." Bedagi said finally, motioning to his room.

Tamhigan simply nodded and followed his brother into the room. Bedagi shut the door behind them and they sat down on the bed, facing each other. The former human's brother sighed and looked at him with a serious expression.

"Frysa told me everything. How you broke her heart, how she tried to kill herself, how you saved her… everything." Bedagi began.

Tamhigan nodded in understanding.

"You really did break her heart you know. She's been crying all day and I've been comforting her. We've been talking and… I care about her... more than just a simple friendship." his brother revealed nervously.

Tamhigan was caught off guard by this and looked at his brother with a raised eyebrow.

"I think I've made her feel better. She wasn't crying as bad when I came in to comfort her. I want to tell her my feelings, but I want to wait until she's ready." Bedagi explained.

They both sat there in silence for awhile. Finally, Bedagi broke the silence once again.

"You need to apologize you know. Even if you don't love her, tell her you're sorry for hurting her. You owe her that much." he said sternly.

The former human sighed heavily, but nodded in understanding. Bedagi smiled and gave his brother a quick hug.

Tamhigan stood up and left without a word. He saw his mother hug Frysa goodnight and then approach him. She wrapped her wings around him and hugged him closely.

"Goodnight, sweetie." she said softly.

The black dragoness released her son and walked into her other son's room to hug him goodnight as well. Tamhigan walked up to Frysa, who stared up at him with a tired and sad expression. The former human sighed and placed a paw on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly with his ever so deep voice.

Before she could respond, Tamhigan let go of her and walked into his room without a word. Frysa's lips curled into a small smile and she layed down to sleep.

* * *

Nix has finally made it to the Mountain of Malefor. He is sweating heavily from carrying the dragon and climbing the large mountain. He found a stone platform with an entrance to the ancient ruins.

"Almost there." the ape said quietly as he tiredly entered the ruins.

After some navigation, he found the throne room. The skeletons of many apes and even a dragon were present on the floor as well as old chains. The gears that were used to kill Culus were still there as well. Nix shuddered when he saw the ice dragon's crushed bones.

'I can't even imagine how much that hurt.' the ape thought to himself.

Nix placed the bag containing the dragon on the floor with a relieved sigh. He untied the rope keeping it closed and pulled it down so he could see the unconscious fire dragon's head.

'Well I found an innocent dragon.' he thought with a sad expression.

He took the dragon out of the bag and used the chains he found in the ruins to bind his limbs together in a hogtie style. The dragon's wings and tail were chained together to decrees the chances of escape. Nix found a dark crystal shard near the gears and chained it to the back of the dragon's neck. This was to prevent him from using his fire element.

Once the dragon was completely bound, Nix sat down on the throne. He rested his head on his palm in deep thought.

"What am I supposed to do now? The Dark Master wasn't specific on how to sacrifice him." the ape thought aloud to himself.

As if hearing him, the sound of chuckling could be heard in Nix's head.

"Excellent work! Now… see those gears on the far side of the room? Once the sacrifice awakens, you are to attach one of the chains to them and activate the gears. They pull the sacrifice into them and crush his body." Malefor explained in the ape's head.

"Why does he have to be awake?" the ape asked.

"Because I told you to wait for him to awaken. Do you understand?" the dark voice asked threateningly.

"Yes master." Nix said quietly, regretting that he has to kill someone to get what he wants.

"Do not worry; your people will get the power they deserve." The Dark Master assured with a chuckle.

Malefor's influenced ceased and Nix groaned, feeling exhausted from his long journey. He decided to rest his eyes and within moments, he fell asleep on the throne.

* * *

The only thing Jack could see was darkness. He groggily looked around to try to see through the darkness, but it didn't help. Something was on his head and prevented him from seeing. The human tried to move, but he felt that his arms and legs were restrained to the chair he was sitting on with rope. His legs are tied to the chair's and his arms air secured on the arm rests.

"Hey look! The savage is awake!" he heard someone's voice.

Jack felt the trash bag be taken off his head and he saw nothing, but a bright light. He instinctively squinted his eyes to try to adjust to the lighting. Once he felt he could see again, he looked around the surrounding area.

Jack is in a well lit room with bloodstains on the wall. He is securely restrained to a metal chair that is bolted to the floor and there is a medical table to his right. Standing in front of him are two men wearing lab coats. One of them is wearing a white gas mask like the soldiers, but the other doesn't have anything on his head.

The man without a gas mask has a black buzz cut and a clean shaven face. His face is wrinkled from old age. His blue eyes stared at Jack with interest. This man seemed to be some kind of doctor.

Jack remembers what happened last night. A few Klan soldiers snuck into his den and caught him by surprise as he was sleeping. They knocked him unconscious and must've brought him here.

Jack doesn't have any of his equipment. He's wearing his black cargo pants and steel toe boots, but he is shirtless and his gas mask is back at his den. His hair has gotten slightly longer and his five o'clock shadow is now a full on beard from lack of shaving.

"So that's what the Black Death looks like under his mask. I'd be impressed if you weren't a redskin." the gas mask man mocked.

Jack just sat there in silence as the doctor kneeled down in front of him. He is carrying a scalpel in his right hand.

"You've been a real pain in our necks as of late and… I've been given orders to execute you. You haven't been given the honor of dying on a stage. Oh no that would give you too much credit." the doctor said chillingly calm.

He leaned forward so that he could whisper into Jack's ear.

"I'm going to make your death as painful as I possibly can." the doctor said quietly.

Jack was silent as his torturer leaned back and brought the scalpel to his left hand. The extremely sharp blade slowly cut into his fingertips, just enough to pierce the skin. Jack grunted quietly as blood dripped from the wounds.

The gas mask man walked up to him with a jar of sand. The jar was brought up to his left hand so that his fingertips were forced under the sand.

Jack growled loudly in pain as he felt the stinging sand in his cut fingers.

"Does that hurt?" the gas mask man mocked, finding sick glee in the pain he and the doctor were causing.

The doctor brought the scalpel to Jack's chest and made various small lacerations. The man in the white gas mask proceeded to rub the sand all over his chest and over his bleeding cuts.

Jack hissed in agony as the sand found its way into his stinging injuries. This pattern continued for awhile, but after what seemed like years, the doctor put the scalpel down and turned to the medical table. Jack realized that the scalpel was close to his right hand and inconspicuously started sawing into the rope.

"I think it's time we moved to something bigger." the doctor said calmly as he took out a large bone saw.

The doctor knelled down in front of him again and brought the saw close to his face.

Before the doctor or the gas mask man could do anything, Jack pulled his newly freed hand away from the armrest and stabbed the doctor on the on the side of the head. The doctor's eyes widened as he dropped the saw to the floor. The gas mask man just stood there, frozen in shock.

Jack pulled the scalpel away and the doctor fell to the ground, dead. He proceeded to quickly cut the bindings that were restraining him as the gas mask man shakily took out an AA12 automatic shotgun.

Jack leapt off the chair and sliced the man's throat open before he could get a shot off. The man gurgled loudly as he fell to the floor and started to choke on his own blood. The former prisoner dropped the scalpel and picked up the shotgun. He is very weak from the torture and he didn't know how long he'd stay conscious.

The weak man slowly made his way to the door and opened it. He aimed the shotgun down the hall, but saw no one. He cautiously walked down the hall while looking down the iron sight.

As he was walking down the dark hall, he heard whimpering in the room to his immediate right. He approached the door and attempted to open it, but it was locked. He brought his ear to the door to listen and he heard a whimpering of a child on the other end.

Jack's face crunched up in anger and he aimed for the padlock. He squeezed the trigger and the doorknob flew off. He heard someone shout in surprise and run down the hall to check on the gunshot. The angered man brought up the shotgun and squeezed the trigger. The soldier fell dead with a bloody mist surrounding him.

Two more soldiers ran down the hall, but one of them was shot down by the 12 gauge pellets. The other soldier dove behind an open door for cover. The Klan member brought his hand out and started shooting blindly with his glock 17, but Jack quickly shot his hand.

The man screamed in pain and fell out in the open. The enraged escapee aimed at the soldier's head and mercilessly squeezed the trigger. The upper half of the soldier's head exploded into a cloud of blood and gore.

Jack turned to face the door and kicked it open. He saw a small African-American boy sitting in the corner of the room with tears in his eyes. The little boy is bruised and has a large cut on his leg.

"P-please don't hurt me." the very young child begged with a sob.

Jack silently slung the shotgun to his back and picked up the child, bridal style. With the child in his arms, Jack ran into the hallway and sprinted down the hall. He kept running, avoiding the soldiers as he went, until they reached the free territory of the Colony. Jack finally slowed down to a walk and wondered around the market district.

The boy in his arms cried into his bloody shoulder throughout the whole ordeal. People gave them strange looks, but didn't say anything to either of them.

Jack approached a red colored medical tent and went inside. There is a doctor and a nurse inside who seemed to be cleaning their medical tools.

The doctor has gray balding hair and a long beard. He is wearing a clean lab coat and glasses. The nurse has red hair that is tied back in a pony tail. She is also wearing a lab coat.

"What happened to you two?" the old doctor asked with a worried expression.

Jack was silent as he gently placed the child on one of the medical beds.

"Thank you, mister." the child sniffed.

Jack nodded and softly patted the child's shoulder. After a few seconds, he turned to leave.

"Wait! You're hurt too." the nurse said.

Jack pointed to the little boy, urging them to help him instead, and walked out before they could say anything else. He walked out of the market district and into his den which is farther underground. He locked the metal door behind him and placed the AA12 shotgun on the wooden rack with his other weapons.

His den is very small, but well kept. His gas mask is resting on his nightstand and he has an entire shelf for his tomahawk on the wall. His bed consists of a simple mattress with a dirty blanket and pillow.

Jack stood their shakily for awhile, but he eventually collapsed on his bed and passed out.

* * *

Tamhigan's eyes shot open when he woke up from the dream. He groaned and shakily sat up while sweating vigorously.

The former human looked out the window to see the sun beginning to rise in the horizon. He sighed quietly as he rubbed the small scars on his chest, remembering that painful day. He remembered that the boy made a full recovery and was taken in by the nurse and her family. The boy would always give him some bread whenever he found some.

Tamhigan got out of bed and walked to his desk. He put on his sling and securely clipped his gas mask to it. He tugged it a few times to make sure it would stay in place.

Once he had everything he needed for the day, he opened the door and walked into the living room. He saw Frysa's sleeping form on the seating pillow. She was breathing quietly and seemed to be at peace.

Tamhigan placed a paw on her shoulder and gently rubbed her scales. She smiled from his touch and curled into a comfortable ball.

The black dragon drew his paw away from her and walked out of the apartment to get some fresh air. He was surprised when he saw Spyro sitting in the grass and watching the rising sun in the distance.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" the adult purple dragon asked when he noticed the former human.

Tamhigan looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I guess I should be in bed too." Spyro chuckled.

The former human sat next to the purple hero and they watched the sunrise together.

"Your father was a good dragon. He would always go out of his way to make others happy and help whenever he could. He was very energetic and wouldn't let people push him around." Spyro told him.

Tamhigan didn't respond, but he was listening.

"I remember when you and your brother were just eggs. Your father was so happy when he held your egg." the purple dragon smiled at the memory.

"Your father would be proud of you." Spyro smiled at the young dragon.

Tamhigan stood up and faced the apartment building.

"No he wouldn't." the former human said as he walked back inside.

Spyro frowned at this and looked back at the sun.

'Your father is proud of you, no matter what you think.' he thought to himself.

Spyro slowly stood up and walked back into the apartment. He climbed the stairs until he reached his family's apartment. Before he could do open it however, the door opened with Cynder smiling at him from the other end.

"And just what do you think you're doing wandering around?" she asked with a playful scolding tone.

"Hey Cynder, I was just watching the sunrise." Spyro said with a weak smile.

"Is something bothering you?" she asked seriously as she let him inside and shut the door behind him.

"It's Tamhigan. I worry about him." the purple dragon sighed as he sat down.

"We all worry about him." Cynder said softly as she sat next to him.

"He just seems so cold and distant. I worry that he might try to…" Spyro couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.

Cynder wrapped her wings around her mate and held him closely.

"Everything will turn out okay in the end. Vex will cure Tamhigan and he'll have the life he always wanted." she comforted while resting her head under his chin.

Spyro smiled and held her as well. They sat there and rocked each other back and forth as the sun shined through the window.


	15. Return of the Evil

**What's up everybody! I've got a new chapter for all you readers. The reason why I didn't update yesterday is because I had a little bit of writers block and I didn't know what to have happen in this chapter. I felt that it would be a good idea to take a small break with writing and work on other projects I've been working on. Anyway, here's your new chapter!**

Chapter 15: Return of the Evil

Tamhigan has been in deep thought since his conversation with Spyro. Right now the black dragon is sitting outside his family's apartment door.

The former human was thinking about what the purple dragon told him half an hour ago, mostly about how his dad would be proud of him. Tamhigan knew for a fact his father isn't proud of him because he's not proud of himself. He hates what he's become, but he's learned to accept it.

He would often question why it was him who had this fate, why did he half to become the monster? Why was there a war? Why is their rape? Why is there murder?

The black dragon then remembered The Dark Master's offer. Tamhigan found himself getting angrier by the second. It was monsters like him that made him this way, why he himself is a monster.

His thought process was interrupted however when the door behind him opened. Tamhigan turned around to see his mother standing at the door and looking down at him.

"There you are, Tamhigan. You had me worried." Umbra breathed in relief.

Her son stood up, gave her a quick nod, and walked inside the apartment. Tamhigan noticed that breakfast has already been made. Bedagi and Frysa have been waiting for him so they could all eat together.

Tamhigan and Umbra sat down at their usual spots and they started eating. They all ate in silence, simply enjoying their time together.

Once they finished their breakfast and got cleaned up, the dragons left for their morning classes. Umbra left to teach her class while the students continued to math class.

"Do you think Brise will have us do slopes again?" Bedagi asked, wanting to break the silence between them.

"I hope not. I can never do them right." Frysa answered.

Tamhigan simply shrugged not caring either way.

Once they got there, they sat down in their seats. When the rest of the student also took their seats, Brise stood in front of the class and cleared his throat.

"Good morning everyone." Brise greeted the class.

No one said anything and just looked at him.

"I said good morning everyone!" Brise said loudly.

"Good morning, Brise!" everyone, but Tamhigan greeted back.

"That's better. Now I've written some problems on the board and I'd like you to take out some paper and solve them." the wind dragon told the class.

Everyone did as instructed and got to work on the problems. Tamhigan felt exhausted from his lack of sleep recently and had a hard time keeping his eyes open. He didn't even finish the first problem before falling asleep.

* * *

Jack opened his eyes to see the clear midday sky through his gas mask. The human groaned as he slowly stood up. He looked around slowly to see that he was in a grassy plain. Buffalo can be seen in the distance, wandering the plains in peace and harmony. This was definitely not a flashback.

Jack heard footsteps in the grass behind him and whipped around. Nigawes Ta is standing there with a kind smile.

"Kwai kwai, Jack." the tribal woman greeted sweetly.

Jack nodded as his greeting, feeling much better now that he's around his ancestor.

"Kina." Nigawes Ta said as she pointed behind him.

Jack looked over his shoulder and saw three men. Isaac, Dylan, and Isaac's father stood there with warm smiles. Jack fully turned around to look at his relatives face to face.

"Hello, son. It's good to see you again." Isaac said as he stepped forward and gave his son a quick hug.

Like usual, Jack didn't hug back, but he didn't move away either. Isaac released him and the two other men stepped closer.

"We have two things we need to tell you." Isaac's dad started while he stroked his mustache.

"I think you should say what you wanted to say, Isaac." Dylan said as he looked at his grandson.

"Alright. Jack, I know that you've done some… questionable things in the past, but you are my son and I will always love you no matter what. I'm proud of you." Isaac said, meaning every word he said.

Jack stood there in silence. They couldn't see it because of the gas mask, but he was smiling. It was a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. He nodded in understanding.

Isaac smiled and Dylan cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"I really hate to break up this touching moment, but we need to discuss something serious." the soldier informed them all.

The four spirits frowned and looked at Jack with serious expressions. He simply tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Malefor is returning…. and it's too late to stop the resurrection." Isaac's dad said uneasily.

"It's true, we just discovered that a lone ape has kidnapped a dragon and plans to sacrifice him to bring back The Dark Master." Isaac confirmed as he dug his hands in his pockets.

"We know that Malefor will try to take over the realms, but we don't know how he plans to do this." Dylan added as he crossed his arms.

"I hate to ask you this, but the realm will fall under the rule of fascism if you don't do this. Will you stop Malefor?"

Jack honestly didn't know what to think of the request. If anyone else asked him this, he would've refused on the spot, but this was his family who was asking him. They've kept him safe from some of his flashbacks, warned him of danger, and even subconsciously taught him how to fly.

"We understand that you need to think about it, but time is very limited here." Dylan said as the area began to glow brightly.

"I know you will make the right choice, son. I love you." Isaac said just before Jack woke up.

* * *

Tamhigan slowly opened his eyes to see Brise looking down at him with a disapproving look.

"Could you please not sleep and pay attention in my class?" the wind dragon asked with an annoyed expression.

The former human just looked at his teacher with a dull expression. After what his ancestors told him, he couldn't care less about the class or what Brise was teaching.

"The least you could do is apologizing for being disrespectful." The math teacher scolded.

Tamhigan simply continued to stare at him without any emotion or regret.

Brise sighed in defeat and continued to teach the class. Tamhigan wasn't paying attention however; the only thing he was thinking about was what his ancestors told him. He can either save the realms, or let the world fall under the rule of The Dark Master, Malefor.

* * *

The fire dragon slowly opened his eyes to see the stone ceiling of the throne room.

"Wa… where am I?" he asked groggily.

The fire dragon tried to move, but his eyes widened when he realized that his limbs were chained together, preventing him from moving.

"What's going on?" he asked fearfully as he frantically looked around the throne room.

Nix slowly walked into the dragon's line of sight with a sad expression.

"What… what are you gonna do to me?" the fire dragon asked with a shaky voice.

Nix sighed, but he didn't answer. He walked behind the dragon, grabbed the end of the chain connecting to his other restrains, and walked towards the gears. The dragon just layed there in fearful silence as Nix attached the chain to the gears.

"Please don't hurt me. I'll do whatever you want." the fire dragon begged as his eyes began to water with fear.

Nix looked at the dragon pitifully and walked towards the switch that activated the gears.

"I'm sorry…" he said sadly as he pulled the switch.

The gears started to spin and the fire dragon found himself being slowly pulled closer to the deadly machine. He tried to shake himself free and use his element, but the chains and dark crystal prevented him from doing either.

"PLEASE DON'T! YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!" the dragon cried with tears in his eyes as he was dragged.

His tail got caught in the gears and it was slowly crushed. The dragon screamed in agony as more of him was getting crushed by the merciless device. Bones began to pierce through his scales and blood sprayed out of his mouth as he coughed and screamed.

Nix couldn't find the strength to watch. He had his back to the dragon and he was covering his ears with tears sliding down his face.

The screaming finally ended when two-thirds of the dragon had been crushed. The lifeless corpse was dragged into the gears and it was crushed into a mass of gore and splintered bones.

Nix fell to his knees and cried, still hearing the dragon's faint screams in his head.

The blood flowed like a river into the whole in the center of the room, leading to the spirit world.

A bright deep purple light began to shine through the light and the ground started to tremble. The silhouette of a dragon flew out of the hole and landed right in front of Nix. The earth stopped shaking and the big dragon looked down at the young ape. Nix stared at Malefor as he smiled down at him with sick satisfaction.

Malefor has changed drastically since his last resurrection. Some of his scales are missing and he looks like he's started rotting. Instead of being yellow, his eyes are white and pupiless and his eye sockets have sunken into his head. A chunk of his right cheek is also missing, allowing his sharp teeth to be easily visible. He had an aura of dread and he smelled like death.

"You have done well." The Dark Master praised with his unnatural smile.

"Th-thank you master." Nix said with a cracked voice.

Malefor chuckled and walked towards the exit. Nix followed close behind.

"Now I can rule the world and destroy my enemies." Malefor smiled as he looked at the horizon.

He noticed that storm clouds were moving to their general direction, but didn't put too much thought into it.

"And us apes will be given power… right?" Nix asked for confirmation.

"About that…" The Dark Master started.

The dragon whipped around and stabbed Nix in the stomach. The ape gasped in pain and tightly held on to Malefor's tail in a death grip as he struggled to breath. The Dark Master smiled and painfully brought his tail out of the ape, only to stab him again.

Nix collapsed on the ground, still struggling for breath. He looked at The Dark Master with wide and fearful eyes. Malefor smiled and stabbed him again, earning a moan of agony this time.

"Are you having fun?" Malefor asked casually.

Blood and tears slid down his face as he shook his head, no. Malefor smiled again and leaned close to the ape's face. Nix shivered as his warm breath brushed against his face, but almost gagged from the putrid smell of death.

"I know where to hit you to get the best responses and to keep you alive the longest. That leaves us about half an hour to play." Malefor whispered in his ear, smiling wickedly as he spoke.

Nix began to shake in both fear and pain. He began to scream as Malefor raised his tail blade over his head to stab him again.

* * *

Tamhigan is calmly walking down the empty hallway of the Temple. It is lunch time, but he decided to skip it in order to get some time to himself. He walked out of the large building and into the garden. He sat down in the shade under a mushroom and began to think about his vision earlier.

He thought about what would happen if he did nothing or if he did act. If he did nothing, then he would most likely survive, but this world would fall under the rule of a tyrant. If he did act however, then he would most likely die, but the world might be saved.

"You don't have to do it alone you know. You have friends and family to help you." Tamhigan heard his father's words.

The former human sighed and layed down on the grass.

"Something bothering you?" Spyro asked as he walked into the garden and noticed the black dragon.

Tamhigan didn't answer, he just layed there with a troubled expression. The purple dragon decided to lay down to his right.

"I know something is bothering you. It might make you feel better if you talk about it." Spyro said softly.

"Malefor has returned…" Tamhigan said very quietly, just loud enough for the purple dragon to hear.

Spyro's eyes widened and he felt a spark of cold fear run up his spine.

"Are you sure?" he asked seriously.

Tamhigan nodded and Spyro quickly stood up.

"We need to tell the Guardians about this, now." Spyro told the former human.

Tamhigan hesitantly stood up and followed the purple dragon into the Temple. They speed-walked down a few hallways until they reached the Pool of Visions room. Spyro knocked and waited for a response.

"Enter!" Tenebris' voice called from the other end.

Spyro opened the door and the two dragons walked inside to see the eight Guardians standing around the pool.

"Yes? Is there something you need?" Cyril asked curiously, wondering why Spyro and Tamhigan came to them during lunch break.

"Malefor has returned!" Spyro said loudly, quickly gaining everyone's attention.

"How do you know this!?" Terrador asked in disbelief, but still kept a professional tone of voice.

"Tamhigan told me a few moments ago… and I believe him." Spyro answered.

"Then I'll ask you. How do you know this?" Terrador asked the former human with a very serious expression.

The black dragon pointed to the Pool of Visions, then at his head.

"You had a vision, didn't you?" Venenum asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

Tamhigan nodded and everyone felt a chill run up their spines.

"Volteer… get the others." Terrador ordered.

The Electric Guardian nodded and he immediately left to get everyone else.

After a few minutes, Volteer returned with all the teachers and their children. Umbra, Frysa and Bedagi immediately stood by Tamhigan's side.

"What is going on?" Umbra asked worriedly, thinking that her son was in trouble.

"According to a vision that Tamhigan had, Malefor has returned." Tavilla answered with a dreadful voice.

"What!? But he was sealed away!" Cynder practically screamed.

Before anyone could respond, a purple mist formed over the Pool of Visions and Malefor's pupiless eyes stared at the large group.

"Hello Spyro and Cynder. It's good to see you again." the evil dragon started casually.

"How did you return!?" Spyro demanded, earning a chuckle from Malefor.

"Let's just say that some of the apes can be so easy to fool." The Dark Master said vaguely.

"What do you want from us!?" Cynder screeched.

"World domination." Malefor answered simply.

The dark dragon then turned to face Tamhigan. His foggy replica grinned at the young dragon.

"I want to meet you… face to face. Meet me at The Well of Souls… alone." he told the former human.

The mist disappeared and the room went silent. Tamhigan turned around to leave, but his brother stood in his way.

"No! I won't let you go there!" Bedagi yelled.

Tamhigan tried to walk around him, but Bedagi kept moving in the way.

"If you go there alone…. you… will… die." Spyro reasoned, wanting desperately for Tamhigan to stay with them.

Tamhigan looked at the purple dragon in the eyes.

"I'm okay with that." the former human told him, causing his mother to start crying.

"I won't let you go alone! I'm coming with you!" Bedagi said sternly, causing his brother to look at him again.

"I don't have a life to live for… you do." Tamhigan said emotionlessly.

The former human rushed forward and punched his brother, instantly knocking him out cold.

Everyone gasped at the unexpected violence and Frysa caught Bedagi before he hit the ground. Before anyone could do anything else, Tamhigan sprinted to the time crystal that he and his friends found a few days ago, grabbed it, and ran out of the room as fast as he could.

He rushed down the hallway, exited the Temple, and took flight toward the mountain. He knew he wouldn't survive this encounter, but he would make sure that Malefor couldn't harm anyone before he went down.

As he flew, he placed the time crystal in a small bag he's carrying and donned his gas mask, hearing the satisfying sound of his own breathing.

* * *

Back at the Pool of Visions room, everyone is feeling distressed about the recent events. Frysa is holding Bedagi, who just came to, and Venenum is trying to comfort Umbra.

"What are we going to do?" Bellator asked his mother.

"I don't know…" Cynder answered as she held her two children.

"We need to make sure the Temple stays safe from a possible attack. We can't risk sending more than two or three dragons to find Tamhigan." Terrador told everyone.

"I'll help find him." Spyro immediately volunteered without hesitation.

"I'll help too." Pelko said with a nod.

"Me three." Bedagi said.

"No! I won't let another one of my children leave!" Umbra cried.

"Umbra, he can make his own decisions… plus Spyro and Pelko will protect him." Venenum whispered in his niece's ear hole.

After a short pause, Umbra hesitantly nodded.

"Okay…" she said quietly.

Bedagi stood up and gave his mother a hug. She held him tightly, but eventually released him.

"Take care of him… please." Umbra told Spyro and Pelko, who both nodded in understanding.

The three dragons walked out of the Temple and took flight, heading towards the foreboding mountain.


	16. That Thing in the Woods

**Sup everyone. I've got something kind of important to say. School starts tomorrow and that means I won't be able to publish a new chapter every day like I usually do. I will probably post one or two chapters a week, possibly three if I'm having a good week. I'm saying this because if I don't, then I know all you readers will go ape-shit or ask if I'm dead. I appreciate you fans out there and some of your reactions to me not posting is funny as hell, but please don't go Flippy if I don't post as much as I used to. That's enough of my rant, get some popcorn or nachos and enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 16: That Thing in the Woods

Malefor is looking outside at the horizon with a wicked smile on his face. He knew he could convince Tamhigan to join him. He's been looking forward to their meeting since he first talked to him in his dream.

'He will tell me how he got here and how to enslave those creatures in his world. It's only a matter of time.' he thought to himself as the storm clouds slowly moved towards his general direction.

The pupiless dragon looked to his left to see Nix's corpse on the floor with multiple stab wounds throughout his body. He is lying there in a pool of his own blood with a horrified expression on his bloodied face.

Malefor chuckled at the corpse's face and approached it. The evil dragon shoved the dead ape into the hole in the center of the room. It fell silently into the hole, never to be found.

The purple dragon smiled at his small accomplishment and looked outside once more.

'I wonder how he got here." he thought to himself as he sat down on the ledge to watch the setting sun.

* * *

The sun went down about an hour ago. Spyro, Pelko, and Bedagi have been flying none stop for hours. They passed the swamp awhile ago and are now flying over the forests of Avalar.

As they flew, Spyro noticed a small clearing ahead of them. He looked at his companions and noticed that they looked very tired.

"We'll rest in that clearing over there!" he called over the wind.

The two other dragons nodded and began to glide down. They all gracefully landed in the clearing and looked at each other.

"Pelko, you and Bedagi will go get firewood while I hunt. We'll meet back here in about half an hour." Spyro told the other two dragons.

The two dragons nodded and walked off in search of branches and other burnable wood. Spyro wondered off into the woods in search of their dinner.

About fifteen minutes passed and the three dragons met up in the clearing. Pelko and Bedagi found enough wood to make a fire that would last the night and Spyro caught a deer for dinner.

The purple dragon rested his kill on the grass and used his fire element to light a fire. Pelko cooked the deer as they all sat in the clearing in silence.

'It's kinda creepy out here.' Bedagi thought to himself as he looked around the dark forest.

The two moons are shining brightly, but the trees have made the area look darker. Owls can be heard in the distance and bats are flying in the night sky. The soft wind caused the trees to sway slightly.

All of a sudden there was a bright flash of purple light and a whooshing noise coming from just outside the clearing. Spyro, Bedagi, and Pelko quickly stood up and watched the light behind the trees. The light went away as quickly as it came and there was nothing, but silence.

'I'd recognize that light anywhere.' Spyro recalled when Voltage was transported back to his world on that fateful day.

The sound of slow, but heavy footsteps was easily being heard approaching the clearing. A dark humanoid silhouette could be seen behind the dark trees. The three dragons' eyes widened in surprise as the monstrosity that stepped out into the clearing and into the moonlight.

The monster has dark gray skin on its hairless and skinny body. Its elongated arms end with long and razor sharp claws. The creature has a thick skull with no nose and a wide mouth full of needle-like teeth. The Brute's black beady eyes stared at the three dragons hungrily.

The Brute slowly began to walk towards them, clicking its claws together in anticipation.

"Stay back!" Spyro ordered the mutant with a fearful expression.

The nuclear-born monster didn't listen and continued walking towards them.

Spyro panicked and fired an earth bullet, but the bullet simply bounced off the creature's unflinching head. Pelko tried a banshee shriek, but the Brute continued walking towards them without any side effects. Bedagi shot a glob of poison at the monster's face, but it simply shook the green slime off.

"How did Tamhigan kill these things!?" Pelko asked as the three dragons began to back up from the approaching monster.

The Brute began to walk slightly faster once they started backing up.

Spyro saw the Brute's skinny arms and got an idea. He breathed an ice spike into the monster's right arm, straight into the joint. It took a step back and growled loudly in pain.

"Aim for the joints!" Spyro told the others, starting to feel more confident about fighting this foreign creature.

Bedagi shot a light blue electric blast at the Brute's left knee and it kneeled down while shaking slightly. Pelko ran up to it and sliced at it's left arm.

The Brute growled and backhanded the fear dragon away. Pelko landed with a grunt, but stood up without too much trouble.

The Brute began to limp towards Pelko, but Spyro lit it's left arm on fire. In a desperate attempt to stop the fire from spreading, the Brute sliced its left arm off with a loud growl. Blood flowed from the wound as the burning arm fell to the ground.

"By the ancestors…" Pelko said in horror as the monster continued to limp towards him with its hungry eyes beaming at him.

It raised its remaining claw above it's head to slice at him, but Bedagi used the serrated end of his tail blade to saw off it's other arm. The brute snarled in agony as it took multiple steps back.

Spyro finished it off with a continuous torrent of yellow-orange flames. The Brute howled in pain and shook rapidly, but it eventually fell to the ground without moving again.

The three dragons breathed heavily in exhaustion as they looked at the monster, making sure that the Brute wouldn't get back up. Pelko approached the Brute and tapped it with the end of his claw. He tapped it about four times, but it didn't do anything. It didn't move.

"It's okay… it's dead." the fear dragon informed them as he wiped some sweat from his forehead.

Spyro and Bedagi sighed in relief as Pelko dragged the body out of the clearing. He returned after a few minutes and sat by the fire.

"Is that what Tamhigan fought on a daily bases?" the fear dragon asked his two companions.

"I think so…" Spyro answered with a sad expression.

"No wonder he's so quiet and serious all the time." Bedagi whispered with his head down.

Pelko sighed and began to cut the meat into three pieces. He gave a piece to the two other dragons and they all ate in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

Once they all finished eating, they all layed down near the fire to get some sleep.

"Night everyone." Pelko said, already half asleep.

"Goodnight." Spyro and Bedagi said in unison.

Spyro also found sleep rather quickly, but Bedagi wasn't having such luck. His mind kept going back to that monster and his brother.

'Did Tamhigan really have to go through… that?' he asked in his head.

Bedagi sighed quietly and closed his eyes. After an untold amount of time passed, he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Tamhigan has been flying without rest for many hours now. It is late into the night and he's slowly feeling exhaustion take over him. He flew down to the ground and landed next to a stream.

The former human spotted a cave behind a waterfall to his right and walked inside, not caring about the water. He searched the cave to check for dangers, but it was completely empty.

He reached the back of the cave and found a decent sized open space. There was a small pile of hay on the ground and Tamhigan layed down on it. He spotted a small village further down the stream earlier, but he decided to keep to himself like usual.

Tamhigan stared at the stalactites on the ceiling through his gas mask lens. He closed his eyes and was about to go to sleep, but his eyes shot back open from the sound of footsteps. He quickly stood up and got into a battle stance as a humanoid creature walked into the cave.

"It's alright, I won't harm you." the humanoid figure said as he stepped into the light.

The new arrival is a cheetah with yellow fur with some gray hairs because old age. He is wearing a red robe and cape with the hood pulled over his head. The cheetah has a bow and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back and a small dagger strapped to his belt.

Tamhigan didn't lower his guard in the slightest. The former human simply watched the cheetah with caution.

"Perhaps you'll feel better if you can see my face." the cheetah said as he lowered his hood, revealing Hunter.

The fur on his face has grayed with age, but he still looks very healthy. The hair on his chin has also grown, making it look like a long beard.

Tamhigan relaxed slightly, but he continued to watch Hunter cautiously through his gas mask lens.

"My name is Hunter. I am the leader of the Avalarian village." the cheetah greeted with a smile.

The black dragon simply nodded and sat down on the hay pile. He didn't want to reveal anything about himself to the cheetah, or anyone for that matter.

"Do you have a name?" Hunter asked as he sat down on a flat rock.

Tamhigan refused to answer and simply stared at the cheetah.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Hunter asked after a long pause.

Tamhigan nodded, but still refused to speak.

"I'm not gonna get you to talk am I?" the cheetah asked as he folded his arms.

The black dragon shook his head, no. He just wanted to get some sleep and be off.

Hunter must have noticed this for he stood up again with a quiet sigh.

"Well I need to return to my village. I hope you find whatever it is you're searching for." the cheetah said as he walked out of the cave.

Tamhigan just layed down on the hay and closed his eyes. He slowly fell asleep in the hidden cave.

* * *

Bedagi awakened to the feeling of someone shaking him gently,

"Calm on, it's time to wake up." Spyro said gently.

The young dragon opened his eyes to see Spyro standing over him and Pelko cooking three rabbits over the fire. Bedagi slowly stood up and stretched. His bones pop into place and he yawned. After eh did his morning routine, he stood up.

Spyro and Bedagi sat down by the fire just as Pelko finished cooking. He gave them each a rabbit and they all started eating.

"How did that monster get here last night?" Bedagi asked halfway through their breakfast.

"That flash of light was the same light that took your father away when you and your brother's eggs were layed. I'm guessing the crystal that brought him and Tamhigan here somehow transported the monster here." Spyro explained.

"This could be bad if it becomes a reoccurring phenomenon." Pelko said seriously.

"Then we need to stop this crystal from bringing other monsters to the Dragon Realm." Bedagi said with determination.

"Let's focus on finding your brother first." Spyro chuckled.

They finished eating and the two adult dragons threw the bones into the fire. Bedagi however, stuffed the bones into his small bag.

"Any reason why you're keeping those bones?" Pelko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Mom said that my Native American ancestors used every part of the animal. I plan on making these bones into a beaded necklace after all this." Bedagi answered with a small smile, causing the two adults to smile as well.

'It's good that he's not wasteful.' Spyro thought to himself.

The purple dragon used his ice breath to extinguish the fire and he turned to face his companions.

"We should probably get going." Pelko said as he stretched his wings and did a few experimental flaps.

Spyro and Bedagi nodded and the three dragons took flight towards the Mountain of Malefor.

* * *

Tamhigan calmly opened his eyes to see the cave's ceiling and the stalactites. He sighed as he slowly stood up and looked around, making sure there weren't any dangers that snuck in while he slept. The cave hasn't changed since he fell asleep and everything was quiet except for Tamhigan's breathing.

The gas mask dragon cracked his neck and walked towards the entrance. He immediately took flight once he could see the waterfall and flew straight through the water.

The water shined on his obsidian scales as he soared through the skies. He saw the dark mountain in the distance and began to fly towards it. He just wanted to get this over with and not waste too much time.

As he flew, he saw the cheetah from last night motion for him to land in his village. Tamhigan had half a mind to just keep flying, but since the cheetah wasn't violent with him, he decided to at least see what the humanoid feline wanted.

The black dragon landed in the middle of the cheetah village and looked at their leader. The villagers snuck quick glances at Tamhigan and his gas mask, but didn't say anything to him.

"I saw you flying towards the Well of Souls. I want to know why." Hunter stated with his arms crossed.

Tamhigan frowned behind his mask. He knew he didn't have much time and he just wanted to get to that damn mountain as fast as possible.

"Speak! I need to know!" Hunter said, starting to lose his patience.

The black dragon lowered his head and formed shadows over himself. The cheetahs backed up at the display of elemental power. The black fog spread over the entire village until know one could see their own face in front of them.

After a few short moments, the shadows finally cleared. Hunter looked up to see Tamhigan flying away in the distance.

The cheetah leader wanted to chase after the gas mask dragon, but he knew he needed to care for his people.

"Do you want to send some scouts to follow him?" one of the cheetah soldiers asked.

"No. I have a feeling that we'll get our answers in the near future." Hunter replied as he walked into his hut.

* * *

Tamhigan flew towards the mountain with an angry expression behind his mask. He didn't want to waste any more time and just go straight to his destination.

His stomach seemed to have other plans however, for it rumbled loudly in protest.

The former human sighed and flew down to the ground. He silently landed in a clearing just as a herd of deer were drinking from the river.

Tamhigan formed shadows over him and fazed into one of the deer's shadow. He immediately leapt out of the animal's shadow and painlessly snapped it's neck.

The animal fell dead as the rest of the herd galloped away from the scene. The dragon collected some branches from the clearing and made a fire with some flint he always carries. He skinned the deer with his claws and cooked the meat.

He took off his gas mask as the meat was cooking and looked at the mountain in the distance. When the meat finished cooking, he used his claws to slice it into small chunks and started eating.

As he ate, a small fire dragon walked into the clearing. The dragon couldn't be older than four years old.

Tamhigan watched with interest as the little fire dragon approached him. He noticed that the child looked weak and was very shy.

"S-share?" the little dragon asked with a desperate expression.

Tamhigan silently scooted over so the child could sit next to him. The fire dragon plopped down next to him and started eating with him. Tamhigan could tell the child was starving, so he let him have the most meat.

When the meat was all gone, the former human looked at the young dragon with a raised eyebrow.

"I… I can't find my daddy! He went missing yesterday!" the little fire dragon sobbed as he started hugging Tamhigan and cried into his lower chest.

The black dragon remembered how his ancestors told him that a dragon was sacrificed to resurrect Malefor. He looked at the little dragon with slight pity.

Tamhigan did something he's never done before in his life. He hugged the child.


	17. Apocalypse

**Here's a new chapter and this one has a shit ton of action! Since I haven't updated in a couple days, I decided to put in a lot of action scenes for you action lovers out there. Also, to the anonymous revier called "person," you are the most insane anon I've ever seen. Keep up the good work! And now the story progresses.**

Chapter 17: Apocalypse

Tamhigan and the young fire dragon have been sitting there in their embrace for awhile now. The fire dragon sobbed loudly into Tamhigan's shoulder as he rocked him and rubbed the back of his head comfortingly. The child's tears slid down his face and onto the scarred dragon like rain droplets on a window.

The former human didn't know what to do exactly. He needed to get to the Well of Souls before anyone from the Temple caught up to him, but he refused to leave the child on his own. For now he wordlessly comforted the sobbing child and held him closer.

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of flapping wings. Spyro, Pelko, and Bedagi landed behind Tamhigan and they approached him with relieved expressions.

"Tamhigan, there you…" Bedagi's statement was silenced when the three arrivals heard the sobbing.

The three dragons circled around Tamhigan until they saw the weeping child in his embrace. The black dragon looked at the group with a death glared, as if challenging them to separate him and the crying child.

'I know what that face means; touch the child and you die.' Pelko thought to himself with a distressed facial expression.

They were all silent, only the crying child could be heard in the silent forest. Finally, the child looked up at Tamhigan's eyes.

"Is… is d-daddy okay?" the child asked in a cracked voice and tears streaming down his face.

"…no." he said honestly, resulting in more sobbing.

The child looked at the ground and began to cry harder.

Tamhigan gently placed a talon on the fire dragon's chin and brought his head up to look him in the eyes again.

"I will avenge your father… I promise." Tamhigan said with seriousness and determination.

The child nodded while sniffing and hugged the black dragon again, feeling great comfort in his strong, but gentle grip.

"He needs to be brought to the Temple. He'll be safe there." Spyro said softly.

Tamhigan hesitantly nodded and led the fire dragon to Pelko. He helped the child on the fear dragon's back and made sure he was secure and wouldn't fall off.

"Be careful." the young fire dragon said as he wiped some tears out of his eyes.

Tamhigan nodded in understanding and looked at the fear dragon.

"I'll get him to the Temple safe and sound." Pelko assured before taking off.

Tamhigan silently turned around and grabbed his gas mask. He put it on and faced the Mountain of Malefor.

"If you're going, then we're coming with you." Spyro said sternly.

"We fight together." Bedagi added.

"No we don't." Tamhigan said through his respirator.

The black dragon released a mist of shadows and took off. Spyro and Bedagi used their wings to flap the shadows away, but the former human was nowhere in sight.

"We need to catch up to him!" Bedagi said as he and Spyro took to the air. They wouldn't let the black dragon get away that easily.

* * *

Tamhigan managed to put a good distance between him and his followers. He figured it would take him about two hours to get to the mountain and hopefully make it so they couldn't follow him inside. He refused to let his brother and teacher die for his fight. He needed to do this alone, he just knew it.

"You don't need to fight alone." Isaac said in his head.

Tamhigan ignored him and continued flying.

"You will die if you go their alone, but you **will** survive with Spyro and Bedagi at your side." his father said more forcefully.

"I don't care." Tamhigan finally replied, his voice being muffled slightly because of the gas mask.

Isaac ceased talking, whether it be from shock or pity was anyone's guess.

The black dragon continued flying for a long time. Trees brushed by beneath him as he flew, but he didn't focus on the scenery, only on his task to deliver justice.

Tamhigan isn't a religious person in the slightest, in fact he believed religion was partly to blame for his world's suffering, but if hell does exist, he knew for a fact that he's going there.

By now the skies have gone dark from the storm clouds and it started to rain. He couldn't fly in this weather, so he glided to the ground to continue on foot. He landed and looked at the mountain less than a mile away.

The former human growled in aggravation and started running towards the mountain. There was a flash of purple light to his left that stopped him in his tracks however. A lone Feral slowly stood up on it's hairless canine legs and turned to face Tamhigan. It growled and took a threatening step forward.

The former human simply formed a combat stance and watched the mutant carefully. The dog-like creature barked angrily and leapt for him.

Tamhigan swiftly dodged to the side and the Feral landed in the drenched grass. Before it could fully face him, he formed dark blue electricity over his right paw and slashed the monster's face. It yelped in pain and began to shake from the electricity zapping through it's system.

The former human gave it no chance to recover as he charged forward and stabbed the monster on it's side with his horns. It howled in pain as the serrated edge of his two horns dug into it's flesh.

All of a sudden, dark blue electricity surged through the dragon's horns and into the Feral. It twitched violently as the energy poured into it and burned it from the inside out. Steam began to flow out of every orifice it has.

Tamhigan violently ripped his horns away, resulting in blood splattering all over the ground and him. The Feral fell to the ground with a loud thud, never to move again.

The black dragon simply flicked the blood off his horns and mask. He looked towards the area where the Feral teleported, but found no crystal.

The former human turned towards the mountain again and continued his journey.

* * *

Spyro and Bedagi have been flying for at least an hour now. They are fast approaching the Mountain of Malefor, but they haven't reached the rain yet. Spyro knew that they would have to land when they got within the storm, but that meant Tamhigan had to as well.

"Will we come across anything dangerous on our way there?" Bedagi asked suddenly.

"Probably not." Spyro shook his head.

As if on cue; a flash of purple formed behind them, followed by a loud buzzing noise. The two dragons hovered in place and slowly turned around to see a huge bee-like creature hovering behind them. This is the very same Hornet that Jack fought back in the Post-Apocalyptic Realm for two of it's legs are missing.

"By the ancestors…" Spyro said in shock as the insect more than twice their size stared at them.

The Hornet began to fly towards him with it's stinger aimed for his chest. Spyro gasped in surprise and barrel rolled out of the way. Bedagi used this distraction to fire a glob of poison at the insect's side.

The black dragon's eyes widened in disbelief as his attack simply oozed off the monster's hard shell. It turned it's insectiod head to face him, saliva dripping from it's mandibles.

Before it could fly after him, Spyro shot both earth bullets and ice spikes at the Hornet, but nothing penetrated it's thick exoskeleton. The Hornet decided to go after the purple dragon again and began to chase after him as it's prey flew away from it.

Bedagi looked at the monster carefully and saw it's missing limbs. An idea formed in his head and he chased after the mutant.

Once he was close enough, he used his poison coated claws to slice at the Hornet's leg. His claws simply bounced off and the Hornet completely ignored his attempt to harm it.

'How am I supposed to hurt this thing!?' Bedagi asked in his head.

He looked carefully at it's missing limbs and saw that they were severed at the joint. Bedagi observed the injury very carefully and got another idea. He flew back up by the monster and sliced again.

The Hornet screeched in pain and quickly made some distance between it and the dragons. Bedagi quickly looked at Spyro.

"Cut off it's legs at the joints! That's the secret!" he yelled loudly.

The purple dragon nodded and made is talons scorching hot to make it easier to cut. The Hornet flew towards Bedagi this time and Spyro flew behind it. He quickly caught up to it and sliced another leg off, earning a much loud wail of pain.

Before it could move away, Bedagi used his electrically charged claws to slice one of it's wings off. The Hornet immediately fell to the ground with a loud smash, knocking over three trees in the process.

In case it was still alive, Spyro released a torrent of yellow-orange flames at the foreign creature. It twitched rapidly as the fire burned away at it's underside, legs, and wings. It finally stopped moving and layed still after burning for a minute or two.

Spyro and Bedagi gasped in relief and looked towards each other.

"That thing is not from here!" Bedagi panted.

"I know. It must be from the human world." Spyro agreed, also panting.

"This is twice now that we've been attacked from a monster from the human world." the black dragon said with a worried expression.

"I know, but we need to find your brother and stop The Dark Master before we deal with the teleportation crystal." Spyro said seriously.

"Then we need to hurry before a monster pops up somewhere else." Bedagi said.

Spyro nodded and the two dragons began to fly towards the mountain once more. Bedagi was simply horrified that the crystal was starting to bring these monsters to their world, especially when Malefor has returned.

"Spyro… why would the crystal be bringing these monsters here all of a sudden? I don't get it." He asked with a worried expression.

The purple dragon sighed quietly and looked at the teenage dragon.

"I don't know, but we'll figure things out soon. We'll stop this… all of us." Spyro assured.

Bedagi nodded in understanding and they continued flying.

* * *

Pelko has been flying for a little over an hour now. The young fire dragon cried himself to sleep on the fear dragon's back some time ago. The combat training teacher's thoughts have been filled with dread ever since this whole ordeal started, but this orphaned fire dragon only increased his stress.

'How could someone do this to a child!?' he asked in his head.

All of a sudden, a familiar flash of purple light formed behind him.

"Oh no, not again…" Pelko groaned as he looked at the now fading light.

He gasped in shock as he narrowly dodged a clawed attack from a Flyer, waking up the young fire dragon in the process.

"What's going on!?" the dragon cried at the sight of the infant looking monster who smiled it's open-mouthed smile.

"Just hang on!" the fear dragon shouted as he dodged attack after attack.

Pelko knew he couldn't do anything too complex because of the young dragon on his back, so he began to strategize. He quickly came up with a plan and hovered in place.

The infant monster flew towards them with a hungry gaze within it's glowing yellow eyes. Pelko's eyes glowed a crimson red in response. He inhaled deeply and released a loud banshee shriek. The red cone shaped attack hit directly at the monster and it halted in place almost instantly.

The Flyer saw the area form into a giant beehive and hundreds of Hornets flying straight for it.

Pelko didn't know what it was seeing, but he focused all of his energy on the attack as the young dragon watched him with amazement.

The flyer started to shake rapidly and looked like it was trying to get away, but couldn't. Finally, it let out a drawn out caw and fell to the ground.

Pelko flew down to the forest floor and walked up to the corpse.

"What happened?" the young fire dragon asked.

"I scared it to death." Pelko answered as he panted from the use of energy.

"What is that monster?" the child asked with curiosity.

"I… I dunno." The fear dragon answered truthfully.

The adult dragon walked to an open area and snuck a glance at the Mountain of Malefor. He sighed and turned towards their destination.

"I need to bring you to the Temple. We will be safe there." the fear dragon told the child.

"Okay." The young fire dragon said in understanding and clinged onto Pelko's back, causing him to smile.

The fear dragon took to the air and began to take the child to the Temple to be kept safe.

* * *

Hunter is walking down a small path in the Valley of Avalar. He usually takes small walks to clear his mind of the politics back at the village and this time was no different. As he walked, he kept thinking about that mysterious masked dragon from last night and this morning.

'Who was that dragon? What was that mask for and why was it so easy to hear his breathing?" he asked in his head.

Hunter reached the river and looked at the waterfall with the cave behind it. That was the same cave that Meadow was kidnapped and injured by the grumblins as well s the place where he met that black dragon with the scars.

Another thing that puzzled him was how a dragon that young got so many battle scars. Even an elderly warrior usually wouldn't have that many scars. Some of those scars looked like slashes and lacerations, but some were circular, as if a small cannon hit him.

The cheetah's mind was brought back to reality from a flash of purple light from his right. He looked from under his hood at the creature where the light just faded.

A Twitcher shakily, but slowly walked towards him. It's humanoid body tried to stay upright while It's tentacles whipped around erratically.

Hunter took out his bow and notched an arrow. He could tell instantly that it wasn't looking for diplomacy.

The monster watched him through it's skin covered eyes as it's mouth opened and clamped shut repeatedly.

Hunter released the bow string and the arrow stuck in the Twitcher's chest. The attack didn't seem to do anything however for it still slowly approached him.

The cheetah fired arrows at it's chest again, but that didn't do anything. He hit it's legs, but that also didn't stop it. He tied to shoot it's head, however kept missing because of it's erratic head movements. The same applied to the tentacles for he kept missing.

'What am I supposed to do to kill this monster?' Hunter questioned in his head as he shouldered his bow and unsheathed his dagger.

The Twitcher tried to stab him with the barbed end of one of it's tentacles, but Hunter sliced the barb off with his dagger. The creature gurgled loudly and took a few steps back. Hunter looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

"So something does hurt you." he observed.

The Twitcher gurgled again and started walking towards him again. The cheetah scooped up a rock and threw it at the beast's chest. It barely flinched, but that small distraction was enough for Hunter to run up to the creature and slice off the unbarbed tentacle.

It gurgled again in pain and used two of it's tentacles to whip the cheetah away. Hunter landed a few feet away with a grunt, but he quickly got back to his feet and reformed his combat stance.

Hunter ran up to it again, sliced off another limb, and jumped out of harm's way just before a tentacle hit the ground where he once stood. The cheetah noticed that it's twitches have gotten slower since it's partial dismemberment.

He rushed forward to slice off another tentacle, but the monster must have seen this coming for it used one of it's tentacles to knock the cheetah into a nearby tree.

Hunter fell to the ground with a heavy grunt and he coughed up some blood. He started to breathe heavily as he looked at the approaching monster. His eyes widened in horror when he noticed his dagger behind the Twitcher.

With no other choice, the cheetah took out his bow and notched an arrow. The head has slowed down it's twitches to be at least possible to hit, but it still wasn't likely.

He took deep breathes to calm his nerves and released the bow string with a twang. The arrow pierced through the monster's head and the tip was sticking out the other end.

All of it's movements stopped as it simply stood there. Hunter was starting to doubt if his shot even hurt the monster.

As if to answer his question, the Twitcher fell to the ground with an elongated gurgle. It didn't move a muscle and it didn't appear to be breathing anymore.

Hunter approached his downed opponent and tapped it with the end of his bow. He sighed in relief when he confirmed the kill.

The cheetah walked to his dagger and picked it up. He sheathed his weapons and approached the deceased monster.

"What in the ancestors name are you?" he asked the corpse, but got no answer.

Hunter reached into his pouch and pulled out some flint. He grinded the two stones together a few times and a bunch of sparks flew onto the corpse. It was quickly sent aflame and Hunter placed the flint back in his pouch.

"Whatever it is, it won't ever harm anyone." the cheetah said with a sigh at the end.

He turned to the dirt path and started to walk back to the village. He took a quick glance at the burning corpse, but turned back to his destination after confirming that it was in fact dead.


	18. Mental Warrior

**Here's a new chapter for you readers. A lot of important things are going to happen in this chapter that will change Tamhigan's life forever. I apologize for the chapter's shortness, but I just wanted to post this before the weekend was over. Have fun reading this chapter and remember to review!**

Chapter 18: Mental Warrior

Frysa and Umbra are having dinner at their apartment. Classes have been canceled for the time being and everyone was told about The Dark Master's return. Umbra has barely said anything since her two sons left earlier that day. She prayed to the ancestors that they would come home aright and well.

Frysa sighed and looked at the dragoness who helped her in her time of need.

"I'm sure they're okay. They can take care of themselves, especially Tamhigan." the ice dragoness comforted.

"I still can't help, but worry. Not even the combined strength of Spyro and Cynder could stop The Dark Master for good. I can't even imagine what that monster wants with my baby." Umbra said sadly.

"They'll be okay. Nothing bad will happen to him and they will come home soon." Frysa said confidently.

"You really think so?" Umbra asked hopefully.

"I know so." The ice dragoness smiled with a stern nod.

Umbra smiled as well and looked at the food in front of her.

"Thank you for being so supportive. I don't know what I'd do without you." the adult dragoness said honestly.

"It's the least I can do for you after you took me in. You're like the mother I never had." Frysa said with a happy smile.

"Oh Frysa." Umbra said as she stood up and hugged the ice dragoness.

Once they broke the hug, they sat down again and ate with newfound hope.

* * *

Tamhigan has finally made it to the entrance to the Well of Souls. It is raining heavily now and the sky is dark with rainclouds.

The former human cautiously walked into the entrance, but a green force field appeared behind him as he entered. He actually considered this a good thing. The force field would prevent Spyro and Bedagi from interrupting him.

The black dragon continued walking down the stone hall until he reached the throne room. He looked around through the lens of his gas mask, but there was no one there.

All of a sudden, Malefor glided down from the upper level and landed right in front of the black dragon. His pupiless eyes stared straight into the gas mask's angry gaze.

Tamhigan wasn't very intimidated by the large dragon, but he was alert and ready for anything.

"You must be Jack, or do you prefer Tamhigan." Malefor asked with a small chuckle as he began to slowly circle around the former human.

Tamhigan didn't move a muscle. He wanted to at least know what this insane monster wanted.

The Dark Master stopped moving when his face was mere inches away from the black dragon's. The dark purple dragon smiled at his silence.

"Have you considered my offer? Will you join me at my side?" The Dark Master asked with his rotting smile.

Tamhigan simply shook his head, no. Malefor frowned at this and leaned even closer.

"Are you sure this is what you wish?" he asked for confirmation.

The former human nodded as his eyes narrowed behind the tinted lens. He very much wanted to kill this evil dragon.

"Very well. I have other ways of making you join me." The Dark Master said darkly.

Malefor tackled the black dragon to the ground and firmly placed his right forepaw on his forehead. His eyes began to glow a dark violet color as Tamhigan's eyes widened behind his mask. The last thing the former human saw before passing out was a wave of black rushing towards him.

* * *

Jack aggressively pulled his hands away from his masked forehead with an angry grunt. He noticed that he was in his human form and he was on a rooftop in Boston. He watched as the snow gently fell from the white clouds onto the world he stood on. He stuck his hand out and watched as irradiated snowflakes fell on his gloved palm.

The sound of wings was heard above him and Jack quickly looked up. Malefor landed a few feet in front of him and smiled his menacing smile. Unlike the real world, he looks like the way he did when he fought Spyro and Cynder. His yellow eyes with black slits looked over the armored human with interest.

The dark dragon took a few menacing steps forward. Jack reached for his guns, but found that he didn't have any. He unsheathed his cold steel tomahawk instead and adopted a combat stance.

"I will destroy your inner spirit and take control of your body. You will be my slave." The Dark Master cackled.

Jack quickly ran forward to take a swing at the dragon, but Malefor speedily took to the air and began circling the rooftop.

"Not so tough without your guns are you!" Malefor mocked as he flew.

Jack scooped up a lead pipe and threw it like a spear, hitting the dragon on the left side. Malefor cried in pain and swooped down to slash at him.

Jack quickly dodged the clawed attack and grabbed the dragon's left hind leg. The dragon swooped back up and ended up having the human latch onto him while flying.

Malefor tried to shake the human off as they flew, but Jack had an iron grip. He even went so far as to chop at the dragon's leg as they flew through the air. The blade dug through the scales and blood oozed out of the cuts. Each time the human chopped, Malefor gasped or grunted in pain.

Malefor finally had enough. He whipped his head around and shot an earth bullet at the human's shoulder, successfully knocking him off. Jack landed on the rooftop with a loud grunt, but he quickly stood up again.

"Why won't you just die already!?" Malefor shouted in frustration as he hovered in the air.

The human felt a tingling sensation in his hands and looked down. His left hand was covered in a shroud of shadows while his right hand and tomahawk was coated in dark blue electricity.

'He can duel wield elements!?' Malefor thought with shock.

Jack raised his left hand and shot a shroud of black mist at Malefor, blinding him in the process. As the dragon was blinded by the shadows, the human climbed the water tower and quickly jumped on The Dark Master's back.

Malefor growled in frustration and tried to shake the human off. When that didn't work, he tried to shoot yellow electricity out of his back, but Jack simply absorbed the energy and hung on tighter.

Jack raised his electrified tomahawk over his head and quickly brought it down between the dragon's wings. Malefor roared in agony as dark blue electricity surged through his body and began burning him. Smoke lifted into the air between his scales as this happened.

The Dark Master twisted his neck to face Jack and breathed a torrent of red-orange flames right at him. The human let go of the dragon and landed on a mound of snow on another rooftop, extinguishing the flames before they could hurt him. He shakily stood up and saw Malefor fly straight for him.

He was too slow to dodge and Malefor pinned him to the ground. The dark dragon breathed heavily and leaned in closely to Jack's face.

"I was going to make it painless, but now… now you're gonna suffer." The Dark Master seethed with hatred.

Jack managed to get his right arm free. He spinned his tomahawk around and buried the spike end of the weapon into Malefor's jaw. The dark dragon roared and flew back into the sky. As he flew, he shot large ice spikes at the building in an attempt to bring it down.

Jack shakily stood up, but ended up falling on his rear as the building started to tremble and creak. The building's supports started trembling violently and it started collapsing on itself.

In a last ditch attempt, Jack summoned shadows around himself as the building was destroyed. A cloud of smoke and debris lifted off of the ground.

Malefor laughed maniacally at this, but he quickly frowned when he heard familiar breathing below him. He looked at his shadow on the street and saw the human crawl out of it. The dragon growled in frustration at his failed attempt to kill the human.

Jack was holding his side and gasping for breath. That took a lot of his energy and he didn't know how much longer he could last. The Dark Master must have seen this, for he took a nose dive towards him. Jack looked up, but saw something strange behind the approaching dragon.

There was a tiny black dot in the air that was fast approaching. Jack focused on it and saw that it was a human covered in light blue electricity. This human is also wearing a black hood and leather jacket.

Isaac screamed in rage as he landed on Malefor's back and sent powerful bursts of light blue energy into the dragon. The Dark Master roared in pain and tried to shake him off. Isaac refused to move and kept sending waves of electricity in the dragon.

Malefor screamed again as he was shot twice in the chest. Dylan and Isaac's dad ran out of an alleyway. Dylan carried is M1 Garand and Isaac's dad carried a berretta pistol. Smoke is coming out of the barrels of the rifle and pistol, meaning that they were just fired.

Isaac jumped off of Malefor's back and stood in front of his son. Isaac's dad and Dylan did the same and formed a barrier in front of him, preventing Malefor from attacking Jack.

All of a sudden it stopped snowing and the sun began to shine through the clouds. Grass and other plants replaced the snow as the area got much warmer. Nigawes Ta walked out of a nearby building and joined the barrier blocking Malefor from his target.

Isaac looked over his shoulder and at is son. A look of seriousness was on his face.

"You don't need to fight alone." he said before slowly turning back towards Malefor.

"You will not take over my great-grandson's mind! You will never take control of him!" Dylan shouted as he reloaded his rifle.

Within moments, the four spirits started to glow brightly in an aura of blue light.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" The Dark Master demanded as he took a few steps back.

"Banishing you from his mind." Isaac's dad answered angrily.

Malefor screamed loudly as he disappeared when the aura of blue light stuck him. The four spirits stopped glowing and looked at the gas mask wearing human.

"He will never bother you inside your own mind again. We've also reduced the amount of flashbacks you'll get." Dylan explained with a small smile.

Jack looked at his ancestors with unseen gratitude behind his mask. He's never been treated with such kindness before and he couldn't even comprehend the joy he was feeling for the rescue.

"We may have helped you here, but you still need to stop Malefor in the real world." Isaac said as the area started to grow brightly, signaling the end of the vision.

As the moments passed, Jack felt it get much harder to see through the bright light enveloping the surrounding area. He lifted his left hand in front of his eyes to try to block some of the intense light.

"Good luck, we have faith in you." Isaac said with a warm smile.

Jack soon found himself awaken and brought back to the real world, not knowing what the battle would be like.

* * *

Tamhigan opened his eyes to see Malefor standing over him with a furious expression. The large dragon had him pinned to the floor and he couldn't move or get away. He tried to struggle, but the evil dragon simply held him tighter.

"You ruined everything! I was supposed to use you to bring those creatures from your world here so I could control them! You were the key to my success and you ruined it!" Malefor screamed as he dug his claws into the former human.

Malefor spat on his mask covered face and looked at him with disgust.

"I told you I was going to make you suffer… so let's start now." The Dark Master growled as he raised a paw over his head, showing off his razor sharp talons.

Malefor quickly brought his talons down, severing Tamhigan's right forepaw clean off with a spray of blood.

"GRAAAAAA! MOTHERFUCKER!" Tamhigan screamed through his gas mask in pure agony and pain as his paw fell into the hole in the center of the room.

Malefor quickly lifted the former human up with one paw and backhanded him to the ground again with the other. The former human rolled as he landed on the ground. He breathed heavily in shock and pain as he looked up.

Tamhigan gasped and wheezed as he shakily stood up on three legs. His right foreleg was shaking violently as he tried to keep his balance.

"You should have just joined me. It would have been much easier for you. You're gonna wish you were dead once I'm done with you." Malefor growled, hatred steaming in his pupiless eyes.

Tamhigan tripped and fell on his rear. He slowly and shakily brought the stump that used to be his paw in front of his face. The former human placed his remaining forepaw on the stump and sent dark blue energy straight into the bloody lump at the end of his leg.

Tamhigan screamed loudly in pain as he cauterized his wound and Malefor watched with interest. After about half a minute, the former human finally stopped the surge of energy and took his paw off the now closed amputation.

The former human shakily stood up on three legs as he lifted his right leg slightly to prevent walking on it. He tried to walk with just three legs, but fell down again.

He slowly stood up again and just resorted to small hops when walking didn't work. The black dragon looked at The Dark Master with pure hatred behind his gas mask. He flicked his tail in anger as he watched the evil dragon.

"You still want to fight? Very well." Malefor growled as he adopted a combat stance.

Tamhigan did the best combat stance he could do and prepared for his final stand. He knew for a fact he wouldn't survive this, but he was confident he could stop Malefor before he died.


	19. Post Apocalyptic Legend

**Sup everybody, I got a new chapter for you. As he certain "person" said in a review, I have two chapters (including this one) left to update to this story. I'm gonna go into more detail about the future of this series, and my next project once this Dark Savior is finished. For now, just enjoy this chapter and remember to leave reviews 'cause I love your opinions!**

Chapter 19: Post Apocalyptic Legend

Pelko and the young fire dragon on his back have finally made it to the Temple. The fear dragon landed in the garden as the Guardians, teachers, and Tamhigan's friends ran out to meet them.

"You have returned! Where is Spyro, Bedagi, and Tamhigan?" Terrador asked worriedly when he realized their absences.

"And who's that?" Tavilla asked; referring to the fire dragon still on Pelko's back.

"We found Tamhigan with this fire dragon. He's orphaned and Tamhigan told me to bring him here. Spyro and Bedagi stayed with Tamhigan so I don't know where they are right now." the fear dragon explained before he gently picked up the young dragon with his jaws and carefully place him on the ground.

Tenebris looked at the child with a raised eyebrow.

"What's your name, young one?" the Shadow Guardian asked the fire dragon.

The child didn't answer and hid behind Pelko's foreleg, obviously scared of the unfamiliar dragons.

Cynder stepped forward and lowered her head so she was eye to eye with the young dragon. She tied to make herself as non-threatening as possible.

"You don't have to be frightened of us. We're here to help you." Cynder said softly with a kind smile.

"yeah, we're the good guys." Inferno added with a smile of his own.

The fire dragon reluctantly stepped out of hiding and approached the black scaled dragoness.

"What's your name?" she asked sweetly.

"I'm Ren." the fire dragon answered, still very upset about his father and that monster from before.

"I need to talk to you in private." Pelko told the Guardians with a serious expression.

"Alright. We'll talk in the Pool of Visions room." Terrador approved with a nod.

Pelko left with the Guardians to explain in detail what he encountered during the trip, but Cynder and the others stayed with the fire dragon now known as Ren.

"Is the masked dragon gonna be okay?" Ren asked suddenly.

"Tamhigan?" Umbra asked.

The fire dragon nodded in confirmation. Cynder smiled and hugged Ren with her motherly instincts.

"Yes, he'll be okay. He'll be back soon." Cynder promised as she held the child.

"He's really nice." Ren smiled.

"Yes he is." Cynder agreed with a giggle.

* * *

Tamhigan glared at Malefor behind his gas mask as they circled each other. He had to resort to short hops because of his severed right paw, but he wouldn't give up that easily.

All of a sudden, Malefor began shooting ice spikes and earth bullets at him. The black dragon used his shadow element to disappear and then reappear in Malefor's shadow.

The dark dragon quickly turned around and whipped him away with the blunt end of his tail blade. Tamhigan flew across the room and landed on the throne, breaking it apart in the process.

"You're weak. No wonder those white masked men hate you so much. You're exactly what they say you are, a savage." Malefor taunted as he slowly approached the former human.

* * *

Spyro and Bedagi have finally made it to the Mountain of Malefor. The thunder storm has gotten much worse and lightning started to strike now and then.

"We need to get inside, quickly!" Spyro yelled over the wind.

Bedagi nodded and they sprinted to the entrance. They stopped dead in their tracks however when they encountered the green force field.

"Dammit!" Spyro yelled as he tried to use his various elements to break down the magical barrier.

"Look!" Bedagi shouted as he pointed into the throne room.

The two dragons watched as Malefor tail swiped Tamhigan into the old throne. Their eyes widened in horror however when they saw his missing paw.

"By the ancestors…" Spyro whispered in shock.

They noticed The Dark Master approaching Tamhigan and tried even harder to get inside, but to no avail.

"NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Bedagi screamed as he pounded on the force field.

Malefor just smiled at them and continued approaching the downed black dragon.

Tamhigan slowly stood back up and coughed behind his gas mask. No one could see it, but blood was dripping from his mouth.

There was a purple flash above them all of a sudden, and a purple crystal landed on the floor in front of the former human.

"It's the crystal that brought you here!" Bedagi yelled in astonishment.

"So that's how you and your family got to this realm." Malefor chuckled as he took another step forward.

"No! Don't let him have the crystal!" Spyro shouted in desperation.

The evil dragon stopped a few feet from Tamhigan and held out his paw.

"Give me that crystal and I will let you and your friends live. I think that's more than fair." The Dark Master grinned.

Tamhigan simply looked at the crystal, then at Malefor, then back at the crystal. Bedagi and Spyro were silent, watching the scene with nervous expressions.

Tamhigan came to a decision after a short pause. He raised his tail blade above his head and quickly brought the tomahawk blade down on the crystal. It shattered into thousands of pieces, never to be used again.

"NO! YOU IGNORANT BASTARD!" Malefor roared in rage as he raised his paw to strike again.

Before he could strike however, the former human stabbed him in the chest with his serrated horns. He quickly released dark blue electricity straight into Malefor's body.

The Dark Master screamed in pain and used a convexity blast to push the black dragon away. Tamhigan landed a few yards away, but quickly stumbled back up.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU, YOU INSIGNIFICANT WORM! I AM THE BRINGER OF TRUE PEACE!" Malefor roared as the mountain started to shake violently.

"What's happening!?" Bedagi screamed in fear.

"I don't know, just hang on!" Spyro answered as he held onto his companion and used his earth element to stay locked in place.

Tamhigan found it very difficult to stand still with all the shaking and he was in too much pain to fly. He simply held onto a stone support in a death grip.

The entire ceiling of the ruins split open, allowing the rain to pour down on all four the dragons.

"If you wanna play with electricity, THEN I WILL TOO!" Malefor roared as he summoned yellow lightning from the storm clouds.

Tamhigan stood up and held out his remaining forepaw towards the sky, absorbing dark blue lightning from the clouds. The two dragons didn't stop their consumption of energy until electricity was literally zapping out of their scales.

"So much power…" Spyro said in disbelief.

Malefor began to merge his electric element with convexity, making his lightning dark purple. The angry looking lens on Tamhigan's gas mask started to glow dark blue with the amount of power in his possession.

"You will fail." Malefor growled as he prepared to attack.

* * *

Cynder let go of Ren as everyone outside felt some kind of tremor in the ground.

"Look!" Bellator yelled as he pointed to the Mountain of Malefor.

The entire top of the mountain split open and different colored lightning struck the tip with fierce force.

"What in the ancestors' name is happening up there?" Flame asked as they watched the display of energy.

The small earthquake finally stopped and the lightning stopped it's strikes. Everyone stared at the Well of Souls in confusion.

"Is that a good thing?" Forma asked uneasily.

"I… don't… know." Cynder replied honestly.

'Please let my sons be alright.' Umbra prayed with a hopeful yet fearful expression.

Everyone simply stared at the mountain, expecting something else to happen.

* * *

Malefor and Tamhigan watched each other carefully, waiting for the other to make the first move. Spyro and Bedagi stood outside the barrier, praying to the ancestors that Tamhigan would succeed in this fight.

Malefor got tired of waiting and made the first move. He opened his maw and fired purple electricity at the former human.

Tamhigan quickly rolled out of the way and conjured dark blue electricity over his remaining forepaw. He awkward stood up on his hind legs as he used his wings and tail for balance. The black dragon rushed forward and sliced into Malefor's right side.

The Dark Master hissed in pain and shot a convexity bolt at Tamhigan. The gas mask dragon simply absorbed the attack with his serrated horns and threw it back in the form of dark blue lightning. Malefor gasped in pain as the electricity hit him, but he wasn't done yet.

The Dark Master hovered in the air and he prepared his attack. Just as Malefor opened his maw and fired a convexity beam, Tamhigan lifted his remaining forepaw and shot a current of dark blue electricity out of the tips of his talons.

'How did he learn to do that!?' Spyro thought with amazement.

Tamhigan and Malefor were caught in a stalemate and neither of them where gaining any ground.

Bedagi noticed the unfortified ceiling and tapped Spyro on the shoulder.

"Let's go over the barrier and help Tamhigan." he recommended.

Tamhigan must have heard this for shadows came out of his horns and created a new barrier over the ruins.

'Is he insane? He's gonna get himself killed!' Bedagi thought with horror.

The small use of spent energy allowed Malefor's attack to advance a little, but Tamhigan quickly pushed it back, keeping them leveled.

'This reminds me of when me and Cyn fought Malefor.' Spyro recalled with a frown as he watched the stalemate.

The former human's electric current slowly creeped its way forward until it finally struck the evil dragon. Malefor roared in pain as he was blasted a few yards away. He slowly stood up and looked at the black dragon with hatred in his pupiless eyes.

"You will never stop me! I AM ETERNA…!" The Dark Master was interrupted however when Tamhigan tackled him to the ground with a loud grunt.

While they were on the ground, Tamhigan lifted his pawless foreleg into the air to be used as an energy conductor as he pinned Malefor down with his remaining forepaw.

"What is he doing!?" Bedagi asked loudly as a small portion of the shadow barrier cleared away, allowing rain to fall on the two opponents once more.

Dark blue lightning shot down from the rain clouds, hit Tamhigan's pawless foreleg, and channeled its way into Malefor.

The Dark Master roared in pain as the lightning continuously surged into his body. His scales began to darken from the intense heat as steam poured out of his orifices. Even Spyro and Bedagi cringed from the vicious attack.

Tamhigan finally ceased the attack and looked down at his opponent. Everyone was startled however when they noticed that Malefor was still breathing.

Before the evil dragon could recover enough to attack, Tamhigan raised his tomahawk tail blade over his head and started chopping repeatedly.

**CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!**

The former human finally stopped chopping and hopped off the dark dragon. He turned around to leave while panting heavily.

"BEHIND YOU!" Spyro and Bedagi screamed in unison.

Tamhigan jumped out of the way moments before a convexity blast could hit him. Malefor shakily stood up and glared at the black dragon with absolute hatred and loathing.

"No one has ever successfully killed me. Even if you somehow imprison me back into Convexity, I will still be able to escape. YOU CAN NEVER STOP ME!" Malefor roared in triumph.

Tamhigan just stood there, digesting the information he was told. He finally faced Spyro and Bedagi, looking at them with a serious expression behind his gas mask.

"Goodbye." Tamhigan told them before facing Malefor again.

"What!? What is he doing!?" Bedagi asked frantically.

Tamhigan stood on his hind legs like before and took out the time crystal he and his friends found in that cave with the glyphs.

"What are you doing?" Malefor asked in honest confusion.

Tamhigan placed the time crystal on the floor in front of him and went back to three legs. He then brought his tomahawk tail blade over his head to strike.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMNED MIND!? IF YOU DESTROY THAT CRYSTAL, THERE IS NO TELLING WHAT WILL HAPPEN! YOU COULD KILL US BOTH!" Malefor screamed in warning.

"I know…" the former human answered.

Tamhigan brought his tail blade down and chopped the crystal into millions of tiny pieces. There was a bright flash of yellow light that quickly engulfed Tamhigan and Malefor.

"NOOOOOO!" Bedagi screamed with tears in his eyes as Spyro prevented him from going inside the ruins.

Malefor roared in agony as the yellow light burned away his scales until he was nothing, but bones. After a short wait, even his bones began to disintegrate, destroying him for good. Malefor was gone once and for all.

Tamhigan felt nothing, but pain as the light engulfed him. He knew his family would miss him, but he needed to do this. He smiled despite the pain when he realized his suffering was almost over. He could finally rest and never have to experience his hurtful past in that post-apocalyptic hell.

Within moments, his vision faded until only darkness remained.

* * *

"TAMHIGAN!" Bedagi cried as the mountain started to shake uncontrollably again.

"The mountain is collapsing! We need to go, now!" Spyro screamed as he motioned towards the sky.

Bedagi nodded with tear filled eyes as he and the purple dragon took flight. They flew with all their might to get away from the collapsing Well of Souls. The rain made it extremely hard to fly, but they needed to get away as fast as possible.

There was finally a loud explosion and the two dragons were forced to the ground from the air pressure. They looked up to see that the mountain has completely collapsed within itself. The rain began to lighten to a soft sprinkle and the shaking finally stopped.

Bedagi stood up and looked at the area where the mountain used to be.

"TAMHIGAN! WHERE ARE YOU!" he screamed, hoping that his brother was still alive.

There was no answer, so he tried again. He kept calling his name, but never got a reply. Spyro finally stood up and turned Bedagi around to face him.

"He's gone." the purple dragon said softly.

"NO! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! HE'S SURVIVED WORSE! HE'S OKAY!" Bedagi protested loudly.

"No… no one could survive that." Spyro corrected, feeling tears come to his own eyes.

Bedagi leaned forward and began to cry into Spyro's shoulder as he hugged him. The two dragons sat there in silence for a long time, mourning the former human. The rain continued to gently fall over the land as they cried.

"Even nature is sad…" Spyro said quietly.

They finally released the hug and looked each other in the eyes.

"We need to go back to the Temple and tell them what happened… and prepare a mourning ceremony." the purple dragon said quietly.

"Okay…" Bedagi said with obvious depression as he lowered his head in sorrow.

Spyro gently placed a paw under the black dragon's chin and raised his head so they were facing each other again.

"He would have wanted you to continue living and be happy with your life. I'm sure he's watching over us as we speak." the purple dragon comforted gently.

"Do you really think so?" Bedagi sniffed.

"I know so." Spyro smiled comfortingly.

"Okay, let's go." Bedagi said as he also smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes.

Spyro nodded and the two dragons took flight toward the Temple. Bedagi took one last look at the former mountain.

'Goodbye, Tamhigan. I love you.' he thought to himself before looking ahead again.


	20. Ngadozig

**Well, we've finally made it, the last chapter and epilogue to Dark Savior. I'd like to thank all you readers and reviewers for your support. I'd also like to give a special thanks to the reviewers for giving me their ideas and opinions for the series. The title of this chapter is Abenaki Native American for "leave."**

Chapter 20: Ngadôzig

Two weeks have passed since Tamhigan sacrificed himself to save the world. Today is his funeral and everyone from all over the Realms are coming to the Temple to mourn.

Bedagi is lying in bed as everyone is preparing for the service. He has been feeling depressed for all this time, but he also knew his brother would have wanted him to be happy.

'I know that you want me to move on… but it's hard.' he thought to himself with a sigh.

There was a knock at his door and it opened. Umbra and Frysa stepped into the room and approached the moping dragon.

"You need to get up sweety, it's time." his mother said with tear filled eyes.

Umbra took the news the hardest. She spent the entire first week crying in her room. It took the combined effort of all of her childhood friends to get her to get out of her room, but she was still very hurt.

"Okay." Bedagi said as he stood up and faced the two dragonesses.

The three dragons walked out of the room and exited their apartment. They met up with Spyro's family outside and they faced each other with sad expressions.

"How are you doing, Umbra?" Cynder asked softly.

"I'm still sad…" Umbra replied quietly.

Cynder draped a wing over her friend and the two families walked together towards the service. No one said a word as they walked side by side.

Once they got there, they noticed the thousands of people, all waiting in silence. There were species ranging from dragons, moles, atlawa, cheetahs, apes, and even wolves. They all instantly cleared a path towards a tall tarp behind the eight Guardians. There is a stand with a yellow sound amplifying crystal in front of them.

The two families silently walked up the path until they were side by side with the Guardians. Terrador approached the podium and cleared his throat to speak.

"We are gathered here today to say goodbye to a special dragon. This dragon, Tamhigan, was sent here from a land far away… a land of pain, suffering, and death. He was forced to kill and commit… questionable actions just to survive. Even though he's done some horrible things… he sacrificed his life in order to prevent The Dark Master from harming the Realms ever again, something even Spyro and Cynder couldn't accomplish. He saved all of us, and for that… we owe him our respect." the Earth Guardian told the large group of people.

Umbra and many others who knew Tamhigan were crying from the speech. Everyone bowed their head in a moment of silence.

After several seconds, everyone lifted their heads again. Terrador cleared his throat once again to speak.

"Me and the other Guardians have asked the moles to construct something to honor Tamhigan's memory. A statue to honor his memory." he told everyone.

Venenum grabbed the tarp with his jaws and gently pulled it away, revealing a marble statue of Tamhigan. He is standing with his chest puffed out and his gas mask is resting beneath his right forepaw. The statue's face is looking up at the sky with a prideful expression.

Umbra stepped forward to address the large crowd. She sniffed her sobs away and leaned towards the crystal.

"Tamhigan was my son… and it breaks my heart knowing that I'll never see or hear from him again. However, I know that he did what he did to save us all. I am sad, but I'm also so proud of him…" she couldn't finish for she started crying again.

Cynder placed her wing over Umbra and led her away from the stand. Bedagi was next to make a speech. He leaned over the sound amplifying crystal and looked at everyone in the crowd.

"I'm Tamhigan's brother. I've only known him for a little over a week, but he was still my brother. It made me so sad knowing that he went through the horrors he did. Wherever he is… I just hope that he's finally at peace. He didn't talk much, but he always preferred actions over words. I love him and I'll never forget him." he said with teary eyes before stepping down.

Lastly, Venenum was next to speak. He cleared his throat and addressed the crowd.

"I didn't know Tamhigan too well, but he was my niece's child. He was family, and a caring dragon. He never showed it, but he would always help whenever he needed to. His actions are proof of that. May he rest in peace with the ancestors." the Poison Guardian announced.

Venenum stepped down and stood next to his niece. Terrador grabbed the sound crystal and stood next to the statue. He held the crystal close to his mouth and prepared to speak again.

"The moles have specially engineered this statue to have an eternal flame, but we will not light it with fire. Bedagi, step forward." the Earth Guardian spoke.

The black dragon stepped forward as instructed and looked at the place where the flame would be.

"Light it with your lightning." Terrador instructed.

Bedagi released a small stream of lightning until the eternal flame pit was lit with light blue electricity. It will never go out and will always light the statue with it's blue light. The electricity zapped and crackled as it danced in the eternal flame pit.

Everyone in the crowd was silent as they watched the eternal lightning. The Guardians had the attendants form a line in front of the statue so everyone could pay their respects. Bedagi was the first one up and he looked up at the statue with teary eyes.

'Goodbye, bro. I'll never forget you… I love you.' he thought with a tear.

Bedagi lowered his head and walked away. He wondered away from the service and into the garden. He sighed sadly as he sat down in the grass and looked at the ground. After a few minutes, Umbra, Frysa, Spyro, Cynder, Bellator, and Forma approached him. They all sat down next to Bedagi and Frysa placed a paw on his shoulder.

"He's watching over us now. Dragon's become one with nature when they die. He's probably smiling down at us from above." Spyro said as everyone watched the sunset in the distance.

"Yeah… he's finally at peace now." Frysa smiled as she nuzzled Bedagi lovingly.

Bedagi smiled as well and looked up at the now visible stars.

'Goodbye…' he thought with a teary smile as everyone saw a flying star shoot across the sky.

The two families sat there in silence as they watched the sun descend from the sky and the stars shine brightly. The Realms are now finally at peace after so many years of hardship and war.

* * *

The Mountain of Malefor has been reduced to nothing, but a flat plain since the battle two weeks ago between Malefor and Tamhigan. The ruins have been mostly destroyed, but most of the throne room is still intact under the grassy field. It was buried under the surface during the explosion and is now lost under the field.

The room is covered in debris and dust. The throne itself and many other objects have been destroyed in the destruction of that fateful moment. Malefor's body was completely burned away in the blast so there is no possibility of him returning to the Realms. There is one thing note worthy in the throne room however.

In the center of the room lies a large yellow-orange crystal that is almost as tall as the room itself. This is the same type of crystal that Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx were trapped in after the Night of Eternal Darkness.

The crystal is glowing brightly with it's yellowish light and the edges are flat and smooth.

The time crystal only has one occupant, unlike when Spyro and Cynder occupied it. A lone dragon in hibernation resides within the crystal and it is very much alive. Almost no features or details can be seen on this dragon because of the crystal and it's completely trapped in it's crystallized prison. There are two very notable details about this dragon that makes it different than all the other dragons and dragonesses.

The dragon is wearing a gas mask and is missing it's right forepaw.

**Mind fuck! Ha you thought I was gonna kill Tamhigan off? FUCK NO! His story isn't done yet, I've got one more sequel (and a prequel) for this story. However, I want to take a break from this series and start another project I've been planning for a couple weeks now. I promise that I won't abandon this story, I just need a break from it is all. If things go as smoothly as I hope, the third sequel to the Lightning series will be out sometime during November. **

**The next project I'll be working on is a Dead Space/Spyro crossover. Never played Dead Space before? Don't worry, I'll make sure to explain the back-story of it and go into details. I'll also probably work on the sequel to **_**In the Name of Liberty**_** once I'm done with that story as well. Keep an eye out for my newest story and thanks for all your support, you readers are awesome!**


End file.
